


The Storms Blessed By The Waves

by serenesavagery (windrunnerdreamer)



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Angst, Angst and Humor, Awkward Romance, Bending (Avatar), Dragons, Dysfunctional Family, Eventual Romance, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Slow Romance, Some Humor, The Kholin Family Being Idiots, chapter count is also not really guaranteed..., it could be just twenty or somethin' idk, it's just my very own wish fulfilment, this is under constant editing fair warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:30:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22904719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windrunnerdreamer/pseuds/serenesavagery
Summary: The sixteen year old Avatar, Kaladin Stormblessed, has to fight his way out of an oppressive empire, heal the wounds of the world caused by said empire, and persuade two species to live together in peace while fixing the mistakes of his predecessors.While dealing with unwarranted attraction for his very....attractive childhood best friend and with three children (never mind the fact one of them is the same age as him) who think it's funny to give him heart attacks by getting themselves injured. Repeatedly.This, was going to be fun.Not.
Relationships: Adolin Kholin & Jasnah Kholin, Adolin Kholin & Renarin Kholin, Bridge Four & Kaladin (Stormlight Archive), Bridge Four & Tien (Stormlight Archive), Elhokar Kholin & Jasnah Kholin, Kaladin & Tien (Stormlight Archive), Kaladin/Adolin Kholin, Renarin Kholin/Tien, Shallan Davar & Adolin Kholin, Shallan Davar & Kaladin, Shallan Davar & Renarin Kholin, Shallan Davar & Tien
Comments: 98
Kudos: 43





	1. Under the Moonlight

_“No! No! Leave me alone! I didn’t do anything! That wasn’t me!”_

He woke up in a cold sweat, the nightmare having plagued him in recent times. 

_“I don’t want to leave!”_

He looked down at himself.

_“Please…”_

Regal robes of red and black- which could just as easily have been rags had he…

Had he not been the Avatar. 

He sighed, and got up from his plush bed that always served to make him uncomfortable. 

Another day. 

_Another day of this hell._

With that very happy thought, Kaladin Stormblessed went out of his room. 

“Kaladin?” 

“I'm going off to the library.” Kaladin explained, though he smiled at that voice, on his way to said library. 

The only voice he could trust here. 

“Can I come with you?” 

“Why, any fashion portfolios you missed?” Kaladin teases, turning back to look at a certain, huffing prince. 

Adolin Kholin. Handsome as he was honorable, he was practically perfect. Or so the _women_ said, Kaladin himself had absolutely no idea. 

The only one in the Fire Nation who knew anything about the honor the Fire Nation constantly rambled about. 

A little beacon of hope in this very dreary place, Adolin was. 

“No, I haven’t. If you must know, there are some maps I've missed! I'll come with you.” Adolin says, jogging to catch up with Kaladin. 

“Those robes will _trip_ you up, someday.” Kaladin remarks, though it is far from the truth.

Nothing ever tripped up Adolin, infuriatingly enough. 

Kaladin himself wore trousers and a rough shirt that most nobles wouldn’t dream of wearing. But damn them to Agni's hells if he had to wear those elephantine robes. 

Adolin snorted. “I am not a heathen, farm boy. These robes are nothing compared to _Elhokar's_ coronation robes. Ugh. Inconvenient and tacky.” He said, shuddering, waving a hand as to slap away the very mental image of said robes. 

Kaladin nodded wisely. “They also happen to be two generations out of date.” 

Adolin chuckles. “That too.” 

“What is it with you and maps? You seem practically obsessed with them these days.” Kaladin noted, blinking. 

Adolin chuckled nervously. “ _Am_ I now?” 

“Yeah. And for some reason, you decided to give away money to a lot of people. Doing charity?” 

Adolin rubbed the back of his head, not meeting his friend’s eyes. “Why don’t we just get to the library, yeah? It’s the paradigm of knowledge and all that, and knowledge isn’t waiting for us!” He said, rushing off to the library with a previously unseen glee. 

Kaladin narrowed his eyes but then shrugged.

Whatever Adolin was acting so funny about, he'd eventually tell him. 

He trusted Adolin that much. 

Kaladin had nothing to do apart from being a symbol of peace for the good people of the Fire Nation. 

Which meant wake up, eat, study, learn firebending, eat, learn how to be a jackass, sleep, eat and sleep again. 

He wouldn’t have wanted to sit here for all the greatest clothes and food in the world, without his parents and his little brother. 

_Tien_ …

Stupid Gavilar Kholin had to be a warmonger and get himself assassinated, Kaladin thought in annoyance as he went through a history of previous Fire Nation kings. 

Somewhere during his quest of expanding the Fire Nation, Gavilar Kholin had gotten himself assassinated, the army had fallen into disarray and Elhokar was just generally being a very poor successor to the beacon of might his father had been. 

That had been the entire reason Dalinar Kholin had seen fit to expand their troops; by passing a stipulation that every young man in the Fire Nation enlist in the army. 

Of course, Kaladin and Tien had had to go- but as they hadn’t been older than ten, they would only be messenger boys until they became fifteen. 

That had turned out to be a lie. 

Honor, honor, honor…did anyone truly know what it was? 

Kaladin had known it hadn’t existed four years ago when his little brother died.. 

Tien had only been _ten_ , yet…

Yet Amaram had enlisted him in the army anyway. 

The bastard…if Kaladin _could_ , he would burn the man to a crisp. 

And once Kaladin had seen Tien's dead body, well. 

Could anything describe the grief of a loved one? The way your body froze, terrified yet disbelieving at that terrible sight?

Kaladin sighed, slamming the book shut. 

Why had he been even looking at that particular book again? 

Two years. Though Adolin had it much worse here in the Fire Nation, honestly. 

The dreams hadn’t been helping either. 

Though they weren’t mere dreams; they were his previous memories as the previous Avatars. 

But were they previous if you had no recollection of them, if you weren’t yourself at the time? 

Kaladin had no idea and he didn’t want to think about it. 

And some of the dreams were nightmares. Of Tien. His mother and father crying. 

He couldn't get up without tears on his face after those. 

He shook his head and took out a book chronicling the journeys of the mysterious Avatar Talenel, Kaladin’s predecessor. 

Though, Kaladin thought dryly as he looked at the miniscule book, there wasn’t much to be called a _chronicle_. 

Of course, no one would have had any idea about what happened five centuries ago. 

Kaladin stared at the last passages of the book. 

_Shortly after his routing of the insidious Voidbringers, and then the peace treaties that followed, Avatar Talenel mysteriously disappeared into thin air._

_The last sighting was of him at the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, his hometown._

“I am doneeee!” Adolin whines, coming to Kaladin’s table and making himself comfortable.

“Are you now.” Kaladin says wryly, peeking at Adolin from the edge of his book. 

“Yeah. I've been making some plans, plans I want to share. But ugh, these maps and books! Too much for me!” Adolin whines, thumping his closed fists on the table repeatedly like a little child. 

Kaladin smiles at the sight. 

Adolin has his chin on the table, and his messy blond hair peppered with black is uncombed. 

“Really, now. And I thought generals were supposed to face come whatever may?” He teases, grinning as he closes the book and supports his chin with the help of his hand. 

Adolin stares at whatever is front of him with a petulant pout. “Eh, that doesn’t include scripture.” 

“Of course not. Education is weak and feminine.” Kaladin drawls, quoting Adolin’s father. 

Adolin laughs. “I wouldn’t go that far. Say, what are you doing tonight?” 

Kaladin raises an eyebrow. “I'm not a pretty high ranking lordling's daughter for you to ask me that, Adolin.” 

Adolin goes pink, and sits up straight, sputtering.

“That is not what I meant, you complete _peasant_!” He sputters out, slamming his hands on the table. 

Kaladin can’t stop chuckling. 

“Oi. Listen. This is important. You don’t have any compulsions, tonight, do you? No sarcastic remarks!” Adolin adds warningly, shaking a finger firmly. 

Kaladin rolls his eyes. “Even if I had, I could shrug them off, you know." 

Adolin’s sky blue eyes gleamed. “Perfect. Meet me in the hallways tonight.” 

“Again. Can’t court me. Spearish man, over here.” 

Kaladin receives a book to the head for his troubles, which he catches deftly with a smirk as Adolin stomps away, pinker in the face. 

  
The sun set, and Kaladin roamed through the grand hallways of the palace, his eyes scanning around for a blond head peppered with black but finding nothing of the sort. 

The guards froze up around him; they both feared and resented him. 

He was a peasant, nothing but a surgeon’s son and somehow, he became the most powerful being in the universe. 

No wonder they looked like they wanted to have him executed sometimes. 

Kaladin sighed as he passed the fifth hallway. Adolin was absolutely nowhere to be found and he was starting to get annoyed. 

“Adolin?” He called out, feeling put out. 

Just then, a hand came out from another hallway and pulled him closer. 

Kaladin yelped but then the very same hand covered his mouth. He turned to look at who it was and exhaled. 

Adolin grinned sheepishly. “It was necessary, you see. I don’t want anyone to know we are here.” He says, his face now taking on a more serious look as he removed his hand from Kaladin’s mouth. 

“What’s going on?” Kaladin asked quietly, noting the tense atmosphere around his friend. 

Adolin started pacing a little. “You and I both know Elhokar will do everything to prove himself worthy of Gavilar's name.” 

Kaladin nodded, frowning slightly. “Yes. By expanding the Fire Nation. But...” 

He saw where Adolin was going with this. 

Adolin’s blue eyes shone with resolve and his whole frame was tense- his jaw was grit and there was a vein ticking in his neck. 

“We _need_ to leave, Kaladin.” 

Hushed voices filtered out, but not completely, of the walls. 

Kaladin started panicking, if the way his hands started shaking and sweating were any indication. 

This wasn’t what Kaladin had had in mind. 

When Adolin had told him it was important, he had neglected to say _impossible_. 

Kaladin, for all his being the Avatar, could only control fire and water and even then he didn’t have perfect control over them. 

Point was, if _he_ tried to leave- they'd catch him. 

Hadn’t he tried that? He had tried it so many times that on the tenth time…

Kaladin fingered his forehead unconsciously. 

“You think I don’t know that? Of course we do. What do we do when your bastard of a father decides to send soldiers to kill us?” Kaladin asks skeptically, finally. 

Adolin exhales. “The Avatar, is scared of a bunch of idiots who breathe out fire.” 

“The Avatar isn’t a killer, Adolin.” Kaladin said, seriously. 

He knew what Adolin was trying to do. But goading wouldn’t work.

Not when Adolin never meant them. 

“He isn’t. Neither am I. They’re my men too, you realize. But the time has come. We need to leave.” 

The moon from outside, through a grandly arched window, has its light fall on Adolin, showing a determined face and eyes glowing with a fire that he cannot begin to describe. 

Kaladin sighs, turning to look at the window. He then lets out an exhale of amusement. 

“ _This_ is why you were browsing maps and all those books I read.” 

The episode in the morning hadn’t been the only one- Adolin had been browsing maps and books for several weeks for now. 

Speaking of whom, the prince turns pink; you'd never catch him dead with a book unrelated to fashion in his hand, and it is this fact that makes Kaladin chuckle slightly before sobering at the sight of the world outside. 

“Yeah well, someone has to…plan!” Adolin retorts defensively, and Kaladin waves a hand. 

“I'm glad for it- I was only teasing, princeling. No need to get your royal undergarments in a twist.” 

Adolin’s face puckers slightly before sighing. He then smiled slightly. 

“Glad to see you agree, farm boy. Any questions?” 

“I still have my reservations. What about the money you were away donating?” 

Adolin chuckled. “Oh. That. I guess you’ll see as we keep going.” 

Kaladin blinked before sighing. “The army will be relentless, Adolin.” 

“And what’s your solution? Staying here forever while the Fire Nation enslaves the whole world?” 

Adolin’s face is now scornful but there is a little bit of a plea behind his voice.

Something that resembled the faith a young boy might have had in a hero. And he knew, from personal experience, that was what it was. 

Kaladin didn’t answer.

It certainly would have been easier than to realize you couldn’t escape madness and destruction. 

“I…” 

He couldn’t face Adolin’s expectant eyes at this moment, and he only exhaled out in frustration. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. 

What was he doing? 

_“He’s right. What were you thinking? That you could hide forever in a fortress?”_ A part of him whispers scornfully in his mind. 

“Fine. Let’s go with it. Aren’t we on a time constraint?” 

Adolin coughs. “Yeah, we are. On the road to freedom, then.” He says, smiling wryly. 

“Where does it start?” Kaladin asks, wanting to hope but couldn’t bring himself to. 

Doubts niggled his mind; what if the generals caught them?

What if the Fire Nation caught them? What would they do then? What if the Fire Nation finally decided to execute them both? 

Kaladin wished he could be brave, but he simply couldn’t. 

The royal family had broken his hopes too many times for that. 

“It starts from my bedroom. Supplies for the next fifty days. Then it gets to the port. I asked someone, someone we can _certainly_ trust, mind you, if they could release the guards from their posts today right now. So we’ll be as undetected as undetected can be.” Adolin explained quietly and swiftly, as he walked. 

He beckoned Kaladin to follow, which he did. 

If not for Adolin Kholin, he reflected later, much later, he would not have even survived to the next year. 

Adolin’s bedroom…well, former now, wasn't very far. And it was bigger than a hut. 

Kaladin widened his eyes when he saw what greeted him. 

Bags. 

Enough for a poor man to live for the rest of his life without any struggles whatsoever. 

“You…” 

“Thank me later when the Fire Nation doesn’t try to follow our asses.” Adolin said, turning back to smile at him with a twinkle in his eye. He picked up a particularly large one and threw it over to Kaladin who caught it with both hands and a grunt. 

“Here comes another!” And before Kaladin even set down the first one, the other bag hit him square in the face though he didn’t fall down. 

Then the third bag hit his abdomen. The last one, he finally managed to catch. 

He’s not about to complain or wonder if Adolin is doing this on purpose however- the least he can do is carry a few bags. 

They sneak out through one prominent exit to the back garden- and it doesn’t take much time for Kaladin to realize why this particular exit was chosen. 

No one had cared for the back garden since the old king had died- meaning it had grown weeds and what not for a good six years. 

And while Kaladin did pity the poor garden- it was now very convenient for him and Adolin to escape the Fire Nation’s royal family. 

Plus, he wasn’t one for gardening anyway. 

“How will we get to the port?” Kaladin whispered, keeping a lookout for any rat that might sniff them out and catch them. 

“By walking. I managed to procure a naval ship. If you notice, it’s quite late. No one is going to notice a stolen naval ship setting off for Ash Island.” Adolin whispered back, slinking away from a particularly annoying weed. 

"How in the name of Agni did you steal a-" Kaladin started, gaping before a vine hit his face. 

A bag fell, and he hurriedly picked it up. 

Adolin snickered before smirking. "I'm full of surprises." 

They finally managed to get out the palace. 

It didn’t mean they were free however, Kaladin thought grimly as he made his way, carefully following Adolin to the port. 

Almost as if Adolin read his thoughts, (which for all Kaladin knew, the man might have), he turned back and grinned. “We're gonna get out of here. You’ll see.” 

Kaladin smiled slightly because he felt it was the right thing to do but he couldn’t share Adolin’s optimism. 

Not until they were out of this sickening country. 

True to Adolin’s suspicions, the port was empty. 

So were the streets they had to cross on their way. 

In all hindsight, it was a little stupid of Adolin to still wear his royal Fire Nation robes but the prince hadn’t complained even once nor had anyone noticed them. 

Kaladin suspected it had had to do with what people called the heat of the moment. 

So far, so good, he thought as they loaded the bags on the ship. 

It was a miracle they got so far- even he hadn’t gotten so far in his tenth escape attempt though he had been trying to look for his parents at the moment.

“Heave ho!” Adolin shouted, releasing the anchor, before smiling sheepishly at the glare Kaladin sent him. 

“You want someone to hear us?” Kaladin hissed and Adolin chuckled slightly. 

“Well, that would certainly make this more interesting- don’t burn me!” Adolin said laughing, running away to the steering wheel as Kaladin threateningly held up a flaming hand. 

Shaking his head, he looked back at the shrinking country that had once been his home as Adolin started steering. 

They were free, Kaladin found himself realizing, as the Fire Nation became nothing more than a speck in the horizon. 

They were actually _free_.

Freedom. 

He breathed in, and did the air always feel so pleasant? 

He couldn’t believe it- though he had to. He couldn’t even see the Fire Nation from this distance, now; only the stars above and the vast sea were visible. 

“Told you we could do it.” Adolin said triumphantly, as Kaladin met his eyes from across the deck. 

“It seemed too good to be true.” Kaladin murmured, but given the fact no one else was there, Adolin could hear and he only shook his head. 

“Yeah well. Get your head out of the clouds, you gloomcloud. We're out of that sickening country and that’s what matters.” 

“Your confidant must be someone really intimidating for the guards to have abandoned their posts.” Kaladin remarked, looking out at the sky. 

He couldn’t see Adolin but he imagined the latter smiling wryly.

“Yes well, if they weren’t scared of _Jasnah Kholin_ , I would have called them fools. Even Father respects her.” Adolin said, a sliver of pride covering his casual tone. 

Kaladin raised his eyebrows. “That princess? Really?” 

“She may be slightly exasperating. I don’t disagree. But she’s wise and she knows this is right. Thank her the next time we ever see her.” 

Kaladin contemplated. Jasnah Kholin hadn’t been a tormentor, but she was a political creature and also, very annoying. 

Her ruthlessness was one reason for him to dislike her. But Adolin wasn’t wrong; Jasnah was extraordinarily wise and he couldn’t begrudge her that. 

Plus, she hated Amaram. Anyone who hated Amaram was certainly not _that_ bad. 

“You sure you'll keep steering your way to Ash Island for the whole night?” Kaladin asked, his thoughts flitting back to their journey. 

It was frightening. Daunting. But if he was being honest, it was also incredibly exciting and invigorating. The thought of the unpredictable looming over them was also exciting- it felt like a challenge. 

Though, challenges weren’t always invigorating. 

“Steer for a while. These robes are getting tiring, I swear. There’s a compass on the wheel in case you get lost.” Adolin calls out, snapping Kaladin out of his stupor. 

He turned, only to find no one at the steering wheel and Adolin going down the deck to, well, change his clothes. He ran over and steered the ship in the nick of time, just before the ship could lose its balance and then squinted at the compass. 

It pointed towards west, and he kept steering for a while. The job gave him time to think over everything that happened, to think of a plan of action. 

Gavilar hadn’t been keen to let everyone, the other nations that is, that the Avatar had returned after five centuries. 

Everyone had been looking towards the Fire Nation, hoping for the Avatar’s return. 

Everyone had been praying for the Avatar’s return when the Fire Nation started their pillage. 

Everyone had been crying, shedding tears, desperately yearning for the Avatar’s return when the Fire Nation killed.

Everyone had stopped believing in the Avatar’s return when the world bowed down to the Fire Nation's tyranny. 

Kaladin stared out at the stars. 

These thoughts had been put into submission by those wily bastards, but not anymore. 

He would restore balance to the world. He would show them their rightful place- which was alongside everyone else. 

Somehow, he knew this was what he had to do. 

“Thank the spirits you kept to the compass. You know what? Keep steering.” Adolin called out, voice breaking throughout his thoughts, and Kaladin turned back only to see his friend dressed in a winter coat decked with the soft blue colors of the Water Tribe.

It was ostentatious, but somehow, it just suited his friend. 

“Fine. How much longer anyway?” Kaladin asked simply, looking at the compass and correcting his direction. 

“Two hours more. Call me when you get tired. I'll keep watch for any soldiers…though there shouldn’t be any. Wouldn’t hurt to keep watch.” Adolin said, distantly and Kaladin simply nodded.

There were a few moments of companionable silence. 

“It’ll be cold there. You sure you don’t want to put on a coat or anything?” Adolin’s concerned voice filled the air a few moments later. 

Kaladin shrugged. “How cold can Ash Island be?” 

“It’s an island made of ice. I should think it would be very cold, Kal." Adolin said dryly. 

Kaladin shrugged again before realizing most people would not take kindly to a firebender amongst them, Avatar or not. 

“Steer the ship. I'll put on a coat.” 

It took two more hours, a shift and a half until they reached the cold, imposing Ash Island. 

Created by Avatar Shalash after her defeat of the Midnight Mother out of a desire to let both Water Tribes live together and celebrate the New Moon Festival, it was an island completely made out of ice. 

And so, Kaladin was glad he wore a coat. 

Ash Island was guarded by an elite force of actor-assassins called the Lightweavers, and thus, they had to be careful not to give the Lightweavers any cause for elimination. 

Personally, Kaladin didn’t think the Lightweavers would be very threatening, but he didn’t want to take his chances. 

“We’ll have to inform the world of the Avatar’s return. One by one. So they can get hope and resist against the Fire Nation better. Let’s just rest for the night.” Kaladin whispered, as they got down the ship, carefully anchoring it. 

Adolin nodded. “Good plan. For that, we’ll have to inform the Lightweavers, though. They’re _everywhere_.” 

Ash Island had no official leader. Only the Lightweavers had any say in what went inside and what went outside. 

“You’re telling me. How are we getting here without facing legal charges?” 

Adolin took a sheaf of papers out of nowhere. “If there are any of those orderly people in the Lightweavers, they’ll request my credentials.” 

Kaladin stared at the papers. “Credentials.” 

Adolin shrugged. “Some people dictate how fruits are to be peeled. There are procedures for everything. Can’t hurt to be on the safe side. Or so Jasnah said.” He said, putting them inside some rather capricious pockets. 

Kaladin blinked. 

Adolin raised a hand. "She did not mention the fruit peeling though." 

Kaladin stared at him. 

They hadn’t faced any opposition in walking the cold streets of Ash Island- though Kaladin swore up and down that the large diamond statue of Shalash erected in the center of the island glared at them as they got to looking for an inn. 

“In essence, aren’t you Shalash?” Adolin asked dryly, when they got to an inn and were knocking at the door. 

Kaladin wrinkled his nose. “It’s not something I'd like to think about.” 

It really wasn’t. 

The door of the inn opened- it was made of ice like everything else, and a teenage young man opened the door with raised eyebrows. 

“Isn’t it a little too late?” The young man asked, looking drowsy, and yawning a little. 

“That’s why we’re looking for an inn.” Adolin said, easy and affable. 

“Visitors? This late?” The boy asked, and it was then Kaladin noticed that the yawns and tiredness was fake. 

The boy's eyes were quick and alert. 

Kaladin narrowed his eyes, before gesturing Adolin to move aside. 

_“I'll handle this.”_

Adolin looked concerned, but Kaladin moved forward. 

“I want you to tell your comrades that the Avatar has returned.” 

The sound of skin smacking skin could be heard, and Kaladin didn’t need to turn to know that Adolin was hitting his own forehead. 

“ _’Just rest for the night,’_ he said. By the spirits…” Adolin muttered, sounding exasperated. 

Kaladin didn’t respond and instead focused on the boy who gaped. “First off, you're shitting me.” He said in reply, shaking his head. 

“Do I look like someone who’s shitting on you? I've got _proof_.” 

The boy squinted. “What…proof?” 

Kaladin smiled sardonically, holding up a hand which burned. The boy looked fit to scream but the embers in Kaladin’s hand slowly morphed into a crystal of ice which innocently fell down to the ground and shattered. 

Only the Avatar could bend more than a single element, and it was the sole reason people had stopped hoping for the return of the Avatar, because multi-element benders were practically non existent.

Well. Not anymore that was. 

“Ash's _eyes_ ,” The boy whispered, staring at the crystal in shock. 

“Ash's eyes indeed.” Adolin said, with raised brows. 

“It’s….it’s true. King Gavilar was lying-" 

“Yep. You’re a Lightweaver, aren’t you?” Kaladin guessed, snapping his fingers in front of the boy to snap him back to attention. 

The boy jumped before nodding shakily. 

“Right. So can we get asylum here?” 

The boy grinned. “Can’t do much for the _Avatar_ \- this is the least I can do…is there anything else?” 

"Tell the folk. The world needs to know the Avatar returned.” 

“You didn’t have to be _that_ dramatic, Kal.” 

Kaladin grunts from his mat on the floor. 

“Well, I know the Avatar needs to be extraordinary, but still.” 

Kaladin felt a warm weight settle next to him, and he shrugged. “It’s not like I stood on the top of Shalash's statue and bent fire and water together now, did I?” He asks, wrinkling his nose at the musky smell invading the air. 

He’d never admit it, but Adolin smelled nice. Like a blend of friendly spices. 

If he did admit it, the annoying prince wouldn’t leave him alone, so there was that. 

“How much cologne did you seriously put on?” Kaladin asks, tossing and turning over to find a grinning Adolin splayed on the mat without a care in the world. 

“The inn smells funny.” Adolin now said, petulantly. 

Kaladin made a face before holding his nose “Your cologne is what smells funny.” 

“Excuse you, this is specially-" 

“Yeah, yeah. Save it for someone who cares.” Kaladin says, breathing out in amusement at Adolin’s scandalized look. 

“Heathen.” 

“I am sorry I can’t live up to your sophisticated standards, m'ilord.” 

Adolin chuckles at the exaggerated rural accent Kaladin’s voice has taken on. “I feel like I can breathe, finally.” He says quietly. 

Kaladin doesn’t disagree. He sees the moon outside through a window. 

It shines brightly, and its rays fall on to their little room. 

The light reminds him of panic felt when he snuck around the palace rooms as a young teenager. Of hushed conversations with Adolin that would have certainly gotten them punishments. 

It stood for confinement. 

But now, the light means freedom. 

“I know what you mean.” 

Adolin yawns in reply. “Sure, buddy. Let’s get some sleep. My arms are sore.” 

“Sure. I steered for more than an hour, but _your_ arms are sore.” 

Adolin slapped his back just to blow a raspberry at him. 

Kaladin raised an eyebrow. “How are you nineteen again?” 

Adolin made another face, which consisted of him pulling one eye down and letting out his tongue fully. 

Kaladin stared. 

Adolin then snickered after a while, deciding that the face his friend was making was more than enough amusement. 

“Child.” 

“You're the one who had to wait for a season to be allowed to drink wine, I think you are the child.” Adolin said, grinning. 

Kaladin smiled slightly. Somehow, Adolin had this way of making your troubles seem insignificant, just for a moment. 

They look at each for a while, grinning like idiots before Adolin yawns again. 

“Night, sleepyhead.” Kaladin says, chuckling slightly. 

“Night, Kal.” Adolin says sleepily. 

Kaladin lies down on the mat, staring at the full moon. 

Before he knows it, his eyes are closed. 

His dreams are a little different today, he thinks with the last pieces of lucidity he has left. 

He ran, as he dreamt. 

Kept running, he did. 

But this time, no one chased him. So he could run in peace. 

He ran to a modest little house, rather familiar, and opened the door. 

He never got to saw what was inside, however. 


	2. Enough on its Plate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, featuring- the first Avatar our favourite brooding boy talks to, some gay thoughts, and some gay happenings, and a bit of plot!

The morning sun rays hit Kaladin’s face at dawn. 

He woke up blearily, not registering the gentle heat on his face for a moment before it grew more insistent. He rubbed his eyes into his knuckles before getting himself into a sitting position. 

He looked at Adolin, who was sleeping peacefully, his chest moving up and down as he breathed. He wore the winter coat to sleep, Kaladin noted in distant amusement. 

He yawned, before getting up to wash himself. 

He had something to do today. 

* * *

He took a deep breath before sitting down, his ankles tucked underneath his thighs and knees, before placing folded palms on top of each other on his lap and finally closing his eyes. 

Meditation wasn’t something he had an aptitude for, and neither had the Fire Nation cultivated it. They had only honed his firebending to the highest in the most brutal ways. 

Yet there was no use in thinking of that. He had meditated by himself before, and it had helped. 

Plus, he needed a little help. 

  
_“If any of you can hear me now…I need your help to move forward,”_

  
_“Please answer me now. At least now.”_

  
His eyes remained shut, and he breathed in and out deeply, taking refuge in the peaceful silence and holding on to it like a lifeline amidst the sea of uncertainty he felt he was drowning in. 

“I hear you.” 

A silvery voice broke through his thoughts and he opened his eyes with a jolt. 

He found himself the same place. Nothing had changed....or that was what he thought.

He blinked

He finds himself face to face with the very same figure of the woman whose statue he swore had been glaring at them, outlined in blue. 

Shalash. 

She was as beautiful as the stories and legends spoke. Beautiful as she was dangerous. 

Shalash’s expression was calm, imperious. She had a command around her that restricted Kaladin from speaking, for the time being. 

“Avatar Shalash,” Kaladin began hesitantly, bowing his head a little. 

Shalash smiled slightly. 

Okay, so she wasn’t a complete ice queen as he had thought. 

“At ease. I am you and you are me. You don’t have to chain yourself.” 

Kaladin wrinkled his nose unconsciously. Somehow the fact he was not himself but rather an amalgamation of people from the past always got to him. 

“The world's seeing the Avatar for the first time in five centuries, Kaladin. You'll have to tread carefully.” Shalash said quietly, almost contemplatively. 

Kaladin doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know if he should. 

“The Avatar is a god to men. But the Avatar isn’t a god. Tanavast, the first, was a man. And he made mistakes. The Avatar is but human. But the being forced to take on the burdens of the world. And this world has faced many burdens in the years after Talenel,” Shalash said, sighing sadly. 

Kaladin takes her words in. “All those burdens began with the Fire Nation, didn’t they?” 

Shalash faced him, her eyes peering into him. “In a way, yes. Your quest, is to right the world. Stop it from shaking from what it’s gone through. Prevent certain doom. But this land is diseased, already.” Shalash said, now facing the floor. 

Kaladin felt wary at her defeated voice. “How do I do that?” 

Shalash chuckled humorlessly. “Kaladin, this land is doomed. You just have to lengthen the time before it dies.” 

“I won’t stand for that.” Kaladin grit out, clenching a fist. 

The thought of doing nothing concrete, was damning. 

How could she say that? What was the Avatar's purpose if not to restore peace? 

Wasn't that what being the Avatar was all about?

And what did she mean? 

Shalash's smile was sad. 

“Neither did Taln. And he paid a heavy cost. Do you want to pay it too?” 

“I'm supposed to, Avatar Shalash.” 

He knew that much. 

Shalash faced him, her hair fluttering in a sudden wind.

“To understand what I'm talking about, journey to the Spirit Oasis. Your presence as a spirit is particularly weak, though that isn’t your fault. For someone who hasn’t been trained in spirituality, you have a rather strong presence here in the Spirit World. And that’s commendable. But journey to the Spirit World, Kaladin. You'll understand my thoughts. Farewell.”

“Wait-" 

* * *

Kaladin felt a cold sweat running over him. 

What had been _that_? 

What had been Avatar Shalash been talking about?

Perturbed, Kaladin got up and started walking around, before seeing the kid from yesterday open the door hesitantly. 

* * *

“Get up. Burning hells, get up already!” 

Adolin grumbled, tossing over with a grunt before getting up and looking into his friend's irate face. 

“Get out. I don’t need to see something so intense this early in the morning.” Adolin said dryly. 

“And I don’t have to smell your morning breath either. How long were you planning on sleeping?” Kaladin asked dryly, shifting away before tying his hair up in a messy ponytail. 

_"He has no right to look this good this early!"_ Adolin grumbled to himself, before talking. 

“Till the spirits demanded my presence. What happened? Fire Nation attack us or something?” He asked, groaning as he stretched his arms. 

Kaladin snorted. “Would I be this calm if that happened?” 

Adolin nodded wisely. “True. So what’s up?” 

Kaladin frowned, which translated to _‘I'm currently jobless and I will go crazy if I don’t have anything to do'._

Adolin smiled slightly. The frown was admittedly cute. 

So was Kaladin himself, but he wasn’t about to say that until his own funeral, so. 

“I see you've gone somewhere. You look tired.” Adolin said, stretching one arm. 

“Oh, I went to meet the Lightweavers. They wanted to know what we were up to, and they’ve given us the right to free supplies if we wanted to.” Kaladin said, shrugging at the end. 

Adolin grinned. “That’s great! I haven’t packed many eatables, so we could go buy food if we wanted to. What did they say, by the way?” 

Kaladin’s frown was a little more serious. 

Adolin’s grin wavered and he sighed, leaning in closer to listen. 

“They told us the Fire Nation is currently looking to capture the both of us. Alive. So that’s a plus. They told me they’d send a message to the chief of the Northern Water Tribe to give us asylum so that I could get to the Spirit Oasis. The Fire Nation isn’t keen on letting the rest of the world know that the Avatar’s returned, so they’re biding their time.” Kaladin explained, his eyes forlorn and facing the floor. 

Adolin nodded, taking it all in and feeling a wave of melancholy well up in him. 

The next stop was the Spirit Oasis, then. 

The Northern Water Tribe. A home he had seen only once. 

And for something he hadn't told even Kaladin. 

Speaking of whom, the younger blinked and then looked at him in concern but Adolin waved a hand. 

Helping the Avatar was more important, he reminded himself firmly. 

“That’s good. It’s only Uncle Toh, but I wasn’t sure if he’d appreciate a Fire Nation prince contacting him. Do you know why you’re supposed to go there?” 

Kaladin nodded, not facing him. “To cross over into the Spirit World. I haven’t been…spiritually connected with the Spirit World even once. And that kind of makes me really, really weak.” 

Adolin nodded, humming thoughtfully. 

Something had clearly bothered this dunderhead. 

Well, Adolin would get it out of him sooner or later- no use forcing Kaladin to say anything. He would say it when the time was right or he could be forced to say it when the time was right. 

“Right. Before they suspect we’re here on Ash Island, we need to get going. First, food canisters!” He said dramatically, standing up. 

Adolin smiled to himself when he saw Kaladin smile slightly. 

Mission accomplished. 

* * *

“How many do you need? Haven’t you packed enough?” Kaladin asked wearily, carrying an armful of packets of food. 

“The ones I'm buying now are for present. The ones I packed are rations. I'm depending on your firebending to preserve them when needed,” Adolin explained, before flashing a smile at the young shopkeeper and getting himself a bag of carrots. 

Kaladin squinted suspiciously at his friend talking to the shopkeeper. 

He could have sworn Adolin had asked for ten tomatoes, not fifteen. 

“Also, what are you gonna do with those credentials? They seem kinda useless to me, actually.” 

Adolin made a face. “My cousin insisted I take them- I had no intention of announcing my presence as a prince.” He said primly, making the other snicker. 

“Don’t tell me they’re still in your pocket.” 

“I'd like to see you disobey a straight order from _Jasnah Kholin_ , buddy.” Adolin said, busily gathering tomatoes inside his bag. 

Kaladin thought about it before grimacing. 

“Exactly. Now stop being a jerk and carry these.” His friend said dryly before gently placing the bag of tomatoes on the growing mountain of supplies that Kaladin was currently carrying and then grinning. 

“Give me those. Explore the island if you want to,” Adolin chirped, smirking when Kaladin glared at him.

“You could have taken these in the _first place_ ,” Kaladin growled and Adolin chuckled. 

“Now where’s the fun in that, peasant boy?” Adolin said teasingly, his blue eyes dancing with amusement as he stretched out his arms to receive the bags of food. 

Kaladin huffed before dumping all of them into Adolin’s arms, smirking when Adolin let out a surprised cry of pain. 

“That’s what you get for exploitation, princeling.” Kaladin said, smirking wider when Adolin made a face. 

Adolin only rolled his eyes at Kaladin’s smirk, suddenly facing somewhere else off into the distance. “Anyways, we can reach the Water Tribe by moonrise if we leave within the hour. Anything you want to do before leaving?” 

Kaladin shrugged, his smirk vanishing. 

“I think I need to go to the library.” 

Adolin groaned. “Oh come on! You just left a humongous one-" 

Kaladin shook his head. “No, seriously. There’s something I want to find out.” 

Adolin blinked before sobering up. “All right. Come back soon within the hour. Need to get going, remember?"

“Got it.” 

* * *

The library was an impressive building- larger than most modern(ish) buildings seen in the Fire Nation, and Kaladin stared at it for a while, breathing out. 

He went inside, shivering all the while. 

The librarian was an old woman who smiled genially at him. 

“Hello, young man- you're new.” She said, in a friendly way. 

Kaladin looked around. No one seemed to be there, and he just shrugged, feeling more at ease without the stares that had been present while he had gone shopping with Adolin. 

“Just a visitor…do you happen to have anything that might have to do with Lady Shalash's history?” Kaladin asked quietly, resting his elbows on the counter. 

The old woman chuckled. “Of course! What would you like?” 

“Well, what is there?" Kaladin asked, frowning. 

“Well, we devoted half of this library to her life and deeds! Would you like a detailed history, or a litany of her quotes or anything in mind, young man?” 

Kaladin pursed his lips. Half the infernal library? 

Agni's hells. “The most detailed history available please. And any personal accounts from her person, if you have them.” 

The old woman nodded, taking out a sheaf of papers and a withering book, handing them out to him.

Kaladin wilted a little at seeing their condition but then supposed it could have been worse. They looked pretty well preserved for something that was supposed to have existed a thousand years ago. 

He then blinked, feeling strengthened when he saw one of them contained a translation of Shalash's history by Hessi. 

“Do you always have them on hand?” He asked curiously, holding them carefully. 

“I get bored too, young man. Avatar Shalash's history is extremely intriguing.” The old woman said, laughing slightly. 

“Ah. Sorry for taking away your boredom relievers.” Kaladin said, finding it hard not to smile at the woman. 

"That's fine, dear." She said, her eyes knowing. 

* * *

“By Agni, I _swear_ -" Kaladin found himself growling under his breath twenty minutes later, his head aching. 

There had been literally nothing that could answer his question as to why Shalash left such haunting words for him. 

He knew logically speaking that he was trying to run before he could even walk, but he had to _try_. 

To not try made him feel weak and uncertain. 

He sighed, and took out Hessi's translations, praying for it to have an answer of sorts. 

He'd gladly take any answer he'd get. 

“I think, this is the first time I've seen you this agitated with a book.” Came a familiar voice from the entrance of the room he was in, and Kaladin snapped his head up to look at the owner of the voice. 

He rolled his eyes when he saw Adolin leaning against the doorway, an amused smile on his face. 

“You got bored with your coat already?” Kaladin asked dryly, shaking his head. 

Adolin shrugged- he was wearing a sleeveless tunic, fur trimmed leggings and heavy boots with blue trims resembling waves. 

Kaladin wondered how a band of girls hadn't followed the man- didn't girls go crazy for really well shaped muscles? 

_Not_ that Kaladin thought Adolin had nice muscles. 

Well anatomically speaking, yes, but Kaladin didn't think in terms of anatomy twenty four seven. 

_"The hell?"_ He thought to himself in surprise before Adolin spoke. 

“It wasn’t very cold as I thought, in all honesty. Plus, this is a lot more comfortable and I look good. As usual. So what are you glaring like a storm cloud for?” The other asked, his eyes on the manuscript in Kaladin’s hand, curious. 

Kaladin himself groaned slightly at the sight of the dreaded parchment. “I just need to read this. Hold on.” He said, squinting at the letters and then at the translation. 

"What's that?" 

"A stupid manuscript." Kaladin groused, before reading the contents. 

_Avatar Shalash, after defeating the slew of Voidbringers controlled by the Midnight Mother, grew more reticent and was no longer seen afterwards._ _She however, devoted more time to her artwork._

_Below is a miniature depiction of her last artwork- a tapestry of the humans kneeling before Voidbringers in regalia._

Kaladin frowned. “Wait a minute…” 

_When asked the meaning behind this particular depiction, the Avatar only shook her head and spoke these words;_

_“The bearers of sins are not who we think are. We are not who we think we are. We are thieves. Not defenders. I would advise my successors to practice caution with the-"_

“With the _what_?!” Kaladin burst out, annoyed as he squinted at the text further. 

"Calm down!" Adolin said, running over. 

The infernal word had gone missing. 

_"Blast it!"_ He thought in frustration. 

Hessi was the best translator-historian he knew, but the gaps in the manuscripts was getting irritating. 

He then looked at the undertext again. 

_Here, I believe the Avatar meant the Voidbringers._

_Though what are the different contexts she referred to is a mystery._

Kaladin pursed his lips, his mind running through possibilities. 

“’ _We are not defenders_ ’. That’s what she said. So we weren’t defending ourselves from the Voidbringers. Were we attacking them?” He asked to no one in particular, running a hand through his hair. 

“But why should that be relevant now? Was she even referring to this or something else?” He muttered, finding that voicing his questions out helped him sort out through his thoughts better. 

He then looked through the text again, his mind recalling what she had said. 

_This land is doomed._ Why though?

_Why would it be?_

“Whoa, whoa. What’s going on, Kal?” Adolin asked in concern, seating himself on the table. 

Or at least, on the part that wasn’t covered by papers. 

Kaladin shook his head, and then looked into his friend’s open, honest, crystal blue eyes. 

Adolin had been nothing short of helpful. He could surely trust the other with what he had been told. 

He sighed. 

“I talked to Avatar Shalash. Today morning. And she told me that this land was doomed, and Avatar Talenel paid a heavy price to restore it,” 

“But she never told why.” Adolin said, nodding in understanding. 

“Yeah, and I'm trying to find out, but I've got nothing except vague connotations, half done translations and irrelevant information.” Kaladin said, rather waspishly.

“Well, what else did she say?” Adolin asked, his eyes thoughtful. 

Kaladin breathed out. “Get to the Spirit Oasis. So that I could be spiritually connected, like I said. And get answers.” 

Adolin didn’t say anything. “Why don’t you,” he said, taking away the papers and the brush Kaladin had been writing with, much to the latter’s surprise, before placing them on another table. 

“Just get to the Spirit Oasis, you idiot?” Adolin asked dryly, staring at him from where he had placed the manuscripts. 

“She literally said our world is in great danger, and she’s done nothing except be vague. I _need_ to find out why, Adolin. I don't know if I'll get answers."

* * *

Adolin sighed, unable to face his friend. 

Kaladin always got so worked up, intense about something that bothered him or anything really. 

Of course, Adolin didn’t blame him- anyone would get stressed out at the thought of their world going to pieces, but couldn’t Kaladin see he was trying to run before he could walk? 

Still, Adolin would listen to him for the moment. Perhaps there really was something to it. 

“Have you found anything concrete?” He asked, walking up to the table of messy papers and sitting on it again. 

Kaladin bit on his lip and Adolin tried hard to look somewhere else. 

_"Focus, idiot. Your friend needs an ear to listen to."_

“Nothing except for this where she’s painted something weird- Voidbringers dressed like royalty and humans kneeling down to them and then saying that nothing is as what it seems. Is this even relevant though?"

Adolin gave him an unimpressed look. 

This guy...

Kaladin then looked down, sheepish. “I'm sorry.” 

“For what?” Adolin asked, frowning. 

“I am trying too hard aren't I? I probably sound stupid." 

_You only sound stupid when you call yourself stupid, stupid,_ Adolin wanted to say but instead he just slapped his friend’s back. 

“Hey, what else am I here for? I came here to help you however I can, right?” 

Kaladin nodded, looking way too tired for a sixteen year old. 

Adolin didn’t remember looking or feeling that tired at sixteen but pity for Kaladin’s fate as the Avatar reminded him of the circumstances. 

“Come on. You can ask the librarian to keep that for later- maybe it does provide a clue. For now, we do know where to go next, right?” 

Kaladin nodded, getting up. “You’re right-" 

“What’s that now?” Adolin asked with a grin, knowing it would make Kaladin feel better. 

The younger only rolled his eyes, but the tension got off his shoulders visibly. “I said nothing, heathen. Come on, let’s go.” 

“I think I heard somebody saying that-" 

“You heard nothing.” Kaladin said dryly, holding everything else under one arm and the apparently important parchment under the other, walking away. 

* * *

"Could I keep this?" Kaladin finds himself asking the librarian while Adolin just leans his back on the counter and looks at the books in amazement. 

The old woman smiles. "Of course you can, dear." 

"I'll return it in a week." 

Adolin rolls his eyes. Trust Kaladin to abide by the rules at all times. 

The woman laughs. "That's okay, dear. It's not everyday a frail old woman like me can be of assistance to the Avatar, now." 

Kaladin gawks and Adolin finds himself chuckling behind a hand at the look on his friend's face. 

"You _knew_?" Kaladin says, looking abashed. 

Adolin snorted. "Kal- you literally ordered that little kid to, what was it again," he waves a hand for theatrics because he can. "'Tell the folk the Avatar has returned', right?" 

Kaladin glares at him though there's no heat in it. "That, was for-" he finds himself sputtering and Adolin snorts again. 

The old woman giggles and Kaladin winced, before sighing and retrieving his dignity. 

"Thank you." He says sincerely, and the woman smiles at him. 

"Anytime, dear." 

Kaladin nods in respect and walks off. 

Adolin moves to follow him but then he feels the old woman's eyes on him, knowing. 

He stops and looks at her, confused. 

She has a smirk on her face. "Do try not to eat him up, young man." 

It's Adolin's turn to gawk and he's more than half sure his cheeks are hearing up. 

"I don't, have an idea of what you're talking about, I'm afraid." Adolin says, clearing his throat. 

"Of course you don't." She says, cackling a bit. 

Adolin winces and walks out, his heart beating a bit too swiftly for his own good. 

* * *

Back at the inn, Kaladin watched blandly as Adolin kept stuffing things into the bag. 

He was pretty sure he could pack it himself- the idiot didn't have to do all the donkey work, now. 

“Anything else?” Adolin asked, turning to look at his friend as he stuffed the cans within a bag, back at the inn. 

“Not really, no. I mean….not much to look for in an island made of ice.” Kaladin said, shrugging. 

Adolin chuckled, the sound lyrical. “Avatar Shalash won’t be too pleased to hear that. Anyhow, off to the port?” 

“Obviously.”

* * *

The island's inhabitants, save for the elderly, sent them off with a wave of heartening cheers. 

Adolin was almost sad to leave this place- it had been nice not having had to worry about his father and their situation. 

_"Well, no use in thinking about that now,"_ he thought sensibly. 

“All set! Let's get sailing! To the Water Tribe!” Adolin screamed dramatically, pulling only a pack behind him as Kaladin trudged behind, carrying the rest of his luggage. 

Adolin knew it infuriated Kaladin, yet it was so _fun_.

Plus, carrying luggage was when Kaladin’s muscles worked best, and it served a welcome distraction for Adolin. _And_ it created a lot of material for him to daydream about. 

Not that he would admit it even on threat of death, but still. The point stood. 

And Kaladin never complained about carrying the luggage, at least, not earnestly. He seemed content to have something to do. 

The teenager in question though, was pouting for some strange reason. 

“Wish we had a dragon.” Kaladin said rather forlornly, and Adolin blinked before laughing.

Spirits. 

How _adorable_. 

“Who knows, farm boy. Maybe we'll find one.” 

Adolin wasn’t really sure of it- but hey. 

Tui knew the poor guy could use a bit of nice dreams. 


	3. Ice Seeping Out

Kaladin had volunteered to steer the ship for one reason, only. 

Because Adolin clearly had his thoughts somewhere else. 

“I'll steer it, idiot.” Adolin said dryly, from the hammock. 

“Nope.”

“ _Kaladin_.” 

“ _Adolin_.” Kaladin says, giving his friend a dry look. 

Adolin had now sat up straight on the hammock and glared at his friend. 

“Let me steer it.” 

“Nope.” 

“Don’t make me do it.” Adolin warned, eyes narrowed. 

Kaladin only smiled slightly. “Do what?” He asked innocently. 

“Come on- I can steer the ship!” Adolin now whined, and Kaladin shrugged. 

“You can steer it- when we get going to our next destination.” 

Kaladin didn’t need to turn back to know that Adolin was pouting. 

* * *

  
Stupid Kaladin. 

He thought he could just go ahead and do whatever he wanted, Adolin thought in annoyance, folding his arms. 

Why wouldn’t he let Adolin steer the spirit-damned ship? 

_“You know why.”_ His mind traitorously supplied and Adolin only sighed, running a hand through uncombed hair. 

He looked at Kaladin, who was keeping his eyes forward on their destination and determinedly keeping himself awake. His eyes would droop every now and then, but he would then shake his head and steer a bit faster. 

Adolin shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. The idiot.

He lost himself in his single memory of the Water Tribe, staring out at the stars with his chin on his hand. 

The reason to visit itself, when said simply, sounded stupid. 

After all, if Kaladin knew that the only time Adolin had ever visited his birthplace was for finding out what kind of person he would be married to, he would surely laugh then and there. 

_“Mother, it’s so pretty!” Adolin cried out in joy, skipping around with an eager grin as the snowflakes slowly drifted downwards all around him._

_His mother laughed. “Just like you, my precious child.”_

_Adolin laughed further, his cheeks rosy with the cold as he swiped at Renarin, making the younger grin._

_“Hey, this is kinda exciting, don’t you think?” Adolin said excitedly, and Renarin laughed._

_“Yeah. We’re actually seeing snow.” Renarin said, grinning wider._

_“It’s so much prettier than the lamps, right?”_

_“Yep!”_

_Evi looked on them with a fond smile._

And how beautiful had that smile been. 

Adolin fingered the chain he had of his mother- it was her betrothal necklace. Something she had left in her rooms before that fateful day when she had left for the war camps. 

He sighed. Men were only supposed to craft betrothal necklaces in the Water Tribe- not have them, but this was all Adolin had of his mother. 

When the time came, he thought sardonically, he would be making one of these. 

If, it ever did. 

_Mother had wanted to be there when I got married._

Thanks to the colonised, that would never happen. 

And he didn’t even know if he’d get married at this rate. The way things were looking, he'd mostly die before this winter ended. 

He sighed, fingering the chain again and rolling it between his fingers. 

His mother had always believed that Dalinar had crafted it for her, but with the way his father disrespected her memory, Adolin was more inclined to believe he had a craftsman do it for him. 

It was too beautiful. And his father had never been the best at crafts. 

And Renarin...

_“I'll be back.” Renarin said, smiling._

_“You better be, you little fireball.” Adolin said with a laugh, ruffling his brother's head._

_“Adolin!”_

_Adolin snickered. “Tickle attack!”_

_“Noooo!”_

Then...

And then what happened of them. 

And then the nightmare that followed. 

_“They're dead.” Dalinar said calmly, and Adolin flinched._

_“No. Father, please, it can’t be true-"_

He shook his head. 

_Why am I being such a mess, right now?_

He sighed, a cold mist blowing out. 

_That one has the emotional sensibility of a knife and he knows I'm a mess right now,_ he thought sardonically, shaking his head as he saw Kaladin yawn. 

* * *

  
_Ah,_ Kaladin thought to himself as he saw Adolin play with his mother’s chain. 

He remembered the first time he had ever seen it- Adolin had been fifteen and frantically searching for it. 

_“Spirits, oh spirits, please let it be here somewhere-"_

That was after Kaladin had seen fit to inspect a rather pretty chain lying on the training room's floor. 

_Kaladin looked at Adolin in bemusement._

_“What'd you lose, Your Royal Stuffiness? Your fancy new hair brush?” Kaladin asked, dryly._

_Adolin, for the first time since he had met him, glared at him fiercely, eyes narrowed._

_“Shut up, you little brat, if you know what’s good for you.” Adolin hissed, seething as he turned back to his cabinet and frantically tossed things out._

_Adolin wasn’t usually this angry. Or rude._

_Huh._

_Kaladin shrugged. “Or what, you'll stab me?”_

_He wasn’t this mean. Usually._

_But Dalinar Kholin and Gavilar Kholin were the whole reason he got stuck in this stupid palace in the first place._

_He didn’t have to be nice to any of those blasted Kholins._

_(Even if Adolin always had been nice to him.)_

“It's probably an act, anyway. Nobles know nothing except how to act.” _Kaladin thought to himself, vindictively._

_Adolin stopped doing whatever he had been doing, and then stood straight._

_Kaladin narrowed his eyes, his hands flickering with flames instinctively._

_Adolin turned to him and glared at him even more, roughly pushing him against the wall._

_Kaladin grunted out in pain and swallowed, forcing himself to look into the other's face._

_He wished he hadn’t._

_“Listen, kid,” Adolin said in a low voice, jaw grit._

_“I will not put up with any of your shit today. I'm not up for it, and I'm done with your attitude, Avatar or not. Either you shut up, or I'll do_ more _than stab you.” Adolin threatened._

_Kaladin cringed and moved slightly away with a wince, but held his ground, staring at the older defiantly._

_“Got it?” Adolin hissed._

_“Whatever.” Kaladin said blandly, trying to hide how badly his hands were shaking, but Adolin only punched his hand against the wall and ice seeped out on the wall._

_From Adolin’s knuckles._

_Kaladin widened his eyes._

_So did Adolin._

_“Shit. Shit, shit, shit!” Adolin muttered in panic, taking away his hand and looking at in horror, before looking at Kaladin with anger and hatred in his eyes._

_“Spirits above, it always has to be about coming to a fight with you." He hissed._

_Kaladin swallowed a lump, his breathing becoming more and more halted as he saw, with terrifying clarity, how angry Adolin was._

_“I-"_

_Kaladin couldn’t say anything- what, what had happened?_

_Did...did Adolin just..._

_Suddenly, Dalinar’s behavior towards Adolin made much more sense._

_And so did the strange chain on the training room floor._

_“This must be yours then.” Kaladin said, his hand trembling as he took out the chain from his pocket._

_Adolin stared at the chain with wide eyes, his anger instantly vaporizing at the sight of it._

_“Where did you find it?” Adolin asked, now looking directly at Kaladin._

_“In, in the training rooms.” Kaladin said, quickly, scared._

_By Agni, Adolin had looked...scary._

_Adolin breathed in and out, the tension in his shoulders relaxing only very slightly and now that Kaladin was more alert, he noticed that Adolin’s breath came out as an icy mist._

_“Thank you.” Adolin said through his teeth, clearly forcing himself to say the words._

_“I'm sorry.” Kaladin said, his head low, now understanding much better._

_No wonder Dalinar never let himself be seen with his son in public._

_No wonder he screamed ‘half-breed’ whenever he saw Adolin._

_No wonder Adolin’s eyes were red rimmed every day._

_No wonder the only people Adolin had ever talked to were his aunt and cousin._

_No wonder._

_“I don’t need your pity, kid.” Adolin said, more calmly but with no less venom, as he turned away._

_“I'm not pitying you. I'm starting to...”_

_Understand? No. That was just an insult. Kaladin had never bothered to understand Adolin. He only knew a facet of what the older had been going through._

_“See that you’re not as bad as I thought.” Kaladin finished, his voice softer._

_Adolin chuckled, and how did Kaladin not notice the sincerity in that smile on his face before?_

_“I've been trying to tell you that for ages. Why didn't you listen before?"_

_Kaladin smiled. "I'm just a stupid little kid, aren't I?"_

_Adolin chuckled._

His arms were crying out in pain, but Kaladin knew Adolin would get distracted at that place, that place that could have been a home and the place that determined who he had been in the eyes of the Fire Nation. 

Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to deal with the Fire Nation or any sort of troublemakers for that matter. 

* * *

  
“We're here.” 

_Oh,_ Adolin thought, his hands shaking. 

_Get a grip. This isn’t your home,_ He thought forcefully, getting up from the hammock and jumping down on the dock. 

Then what was home? 

“Where to?” Kaladin called from the edge, anchoring the ship with a grunt. 

“The palace. Uncle, I mean,” Adolin coughed and it had nothing to do with the cold. “Chief Toh is there with the council. Hopefully, the Lightweavers will have done their job and we won’t get kicked out.” 

“I don’t think you have to worry about _that_.” Kaladin said dryly, jumping down from the ship. 

Adolin followed, hands sweating despite the cold. 

A burly, short man squinted at them suspiciously. 

“Who goes there?” 

“I'm the Avatar and this is my,” Kaladin turned to look back at Adolin awkwardly before coughing. “Comrade,” 

Kaladin coughed again before continuing. “Prince Adolin Kholin, of the Fire Nation. I take it that the Lightweavers informed you of our arrival in advance?” 

The suspicion in the man’s eyes cleared before nodding. “Ah!” His face then broke out into a wide grin, and hope lit up his dark brown eyes. 

“I'm Bashin and I look after the ports. Allow me to escort you to Chief Toh.” 

* * *

  
Bashin, Kaladin found out with no small degree of discomfort, was _very_ chatty. 

Then again, Adolin himself was more chatty than a fishmonger's wife, so chatty natured people were something Kaladin was used to. 

He noticed how Adolin kept his head low, not facing anything as he walked on ahead and felt stupid, useless. 

His friend had saved him, and now he could do nothing for his friend’s sorrow. 

When Bashin wasn’t looking, he quickly pat Adolin’s back. 

Adolin looked at him in surprise. “Peasant boy?” 

Kaladin shrugged, not facing his friend. “Things are going to be all right, you know.” 

He didn’t believe in the words himself, but it was the first thing Adolin had said to him every day the wretch approached. 

The wretch...he hoped it wouldn’t arrive anytime soon. 

He shook his head slightly. 

When he looked at Adolin, the latter was smiling slightly. 

“Optimism? From _you_?” Adolin teased, chuckling slightly. 

“Fine. Waste away. See if I care.” Kaladin said dryly, but Adolin only smiled wider. 

“Thank you.” 

Kaladin nodded, suddenly uncomfortable before turning away and listening to Bashin chatter away about how guests were always treated to a feast.

* * *

  
“Wait, why do I smell food?” Kaladin asked, blinking as they reached the palace. 

Bashin laughed and even Adolin found it in himself to smile a bit. 

“That’s the feast I was talking about! You must have journeyed a long way from Ash Island- besides,” Bashin pat Kaladin’s back at which the younger coughed. “Least we can do for the Avatar!” 

“Oh.” Kaladin said, trying to sound enthusiastic considering he didn’t eat. Much. 

Adolin chuckled slightly. “It’s nothing spicy, farm boy. Don’t worry.” 

Kaladin’s face turned a little less green. “Oh. Great.” 

They entered the palace, and it took nearly five seconds for Kaladin to stop gaping at the place. 

Adolin nudged him. “Kal, we've got a chief to talk to, and I don’t think you can do that with a fly in your mouth.” 

“Shut up, this place is _huge_.” Kaladin hissed. 

Adolin snorted. “Than the Fire Nation palace?” 

Kaladin nodded furiously. 

Bashin cleared his throat. “Uh, you guys'll have to wait a bit, the chief is talking to someone important-" 

Adolin sighed but nodded. “That’s okay, Bashin.” 

Just then Kaladin nudged Adolin. “Hey, isn’t that the chief?” 

Adolin blinked before turning to face in the direction Kaladin was pointing at, and then froze, his mind unable to think. 

“Adolin? _Adolin_!” 

Adolin didn’t hear him- he only saw the woman the chief was talking to. 

A familiar woman. 

A woman he had been told was dead. 

“ _Mother_?” He whispered, voice hoarse. 

“Wait, who?” 

“My mother. That’s my _mother_ , I'd know her anywhere, Kal, she’s-" 

_Alive_. 

And that’s what mattered to Adolin in that moment. 

If- if she survived, then surely, surely, _Renarin-_

Evi Kholin turned back from her brother and looked at Adolin, gasping softly. 

“Adolin?” 

Adolin swallowed, his eyes stinging. He impatiently rubbed his eyes and ran forward, stumbling but running forward, all the same. 

_His mother was alive._

And nothing else mattered to Adolin. 

* * *

  
Kaladin stared at Bashin. 

“Do you...know what’s going on?” Kaladin asked, blinking. 

Weren’t Evi Kholin and Renarin Kholin dead? 

Kaladin frowned. That was what Adolin had told him. 

But who told Adolin? 

Bashin slowly shook his head. “Did he...not know she was here?” 

Kaladin frowned further. “He was told his mother and brother were dead,” He then paused, biting his lip. “In the Fire Nation colonial occupation.” 

Bashin looked aghast- his hand reached up to clasp his throat. “Avatar Kaladin, that’s....why would they do that?” 

Kaladin drew his lips to a straight line, narrowing his eyes. 

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” 

_Think, what would have happened?_

Adolin had been thirteen and away for sword practice when his father had gone for the operation. And only Dalinar obviously knew what had happened. 

And there was the part that sickened Kaladin the most- they had shown Adolin the corpses of what should have been his mother and brother. 

But if Evi Kholin was alive- so would Renarin. 

_What happened? Did...Dalinar actually lie to his own son?_

No. For all Dalinar was a bloodthirsty warmonger, he had possessed a semblance or two of honor. 

But then again, honor was dead and it lived only in Adolin. 

Kaladin pursed his lips. He _would_ get answers. 

He owed Adolin that much. 

Speaking of whom, the young man was currently laughing with tears in his eyes as he hugged his mother, who was crying and laughing at the same time, holding him tightly. 

Kaladin found himself smiling slightly, and shoved down the tinge of resentment he felt. 

_Stop. Your friend is finally happy after a lifetime of misery at the Fire Nation. Stop it. He helped you._

He inhaled deeply. He would _not_ let resentment take his one friend away from him. 

_He deserves this._

Adolin and his mother were talking in another language- the native language used by the Water Tribes long before the lion turtles had taught them the art of waterbending and Kaladin only found himself smiling wider. 

Chief Toh cleared his throat and sent a quick glance at Kaladin, and mother and son stared at the latter before blushing. 

“Oh, Mother, uh, this is the Avatar. Avatar Kaladin. I, uh, helped him get here-" 

For some reason, Adolin’s face was flushed pink- despite the fact he was covered in the warmest clothing possible. 

Evi gave him an appraising look and Kaladin swallowed, meeting her gaze and steadfastly trying _not_ to realize how Adolin looked so much like her. 

Evi then whispered something, with a smile that made Adolin squawk and flail a hand around. 

“T-that's absolutely n-not, _Mother_!” 

Evi laughed. “If you say so, dearest.”

Adolin cleared his throat. “Well, Kal- if you want to go the Spirit Oasis now-" 

Kaladin raised a hand. “I think we should get some rest, shouldn’t we? I mean, we've been sailing all day.” 

Adolin looked conflicted, turning back and forth to face his mother and uncle and then turning to look at Kaladin. 

“He's right, Adolin.” Evi said gently. 

Toh nodded. “Avatar, we have your rooms ready-" 

Evi raised a hand, looking surprised. “Toh, surely the Avatar can come stay with us after the feast? The house is rather large. And rather empty, you know." 

Adolin's face looked redder than a tomato. “Wait, Kal, you okay with that?” 

Kaladin bit on his tongue, swallowing. Despite the fact Adolin looked like he had eaten an entire soup made of chillies, his eyes were knowing. 

And then he no longer looked humorous, so when Kaladin was looking at him, Adolin had a very pointed gaze. 

“Sure.” Kaladin said simply, folding his arms. 

Adolin bit on his lip, nodding. “ _If_ it’s okay with you.” 

“I said it _was_ okay with me.” Kaladin said, shrugging. 

Adolin simply gave him another pointed look before nodding at his mother, smiling. 

“Well, then, shall we?” 

* * *

  
Adolim could hardly believe it. That he was walking towards a place he could call _home_. 

His mother was alive, Renarin was alive, he'd be seeing Renarin now, his little brother- 

And as he turned back to look at Kaladin, who was stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking around, he only wished the same fortune would befall his friend. 

_We'll find your family, Kal._

“Mother, could I-" Adolin gestured back to his friend, talking in a low voice. 

Evi smiled, slightly teasing. “Well, one mustn’t forget the one they have gone soft for, now.” 

“Mother, that's absolutely not- _argh!_ ” Adolin protested, feeling his cheeks heat up. 

Evi laughed, cupping his cheek. “I know, dear. Do go to him now.” 

Adolin nodded, feeling hopeful for the first time in years. If he could get his mother back, anything could happen. 

There would be years now, to catch up with her. He would survive this. 

Just so he could come back to his mother and brother. 

He _would_ survive. 

“Kal!” Adolin called, running back to his friend. 

Kaladin blinked, looking surprised. “Adolin?” 

“Nope, it’s Tui.” Adolin said cheerfully, slinging an arm around his friend’s amazingly steady shoulders. 

Kaladin blinked. “Who?” 

“Did I never tell you about Tui and La?” Adolin said, genuinely surprised. 

Kaladin looked genuinely bewildered. “Tui, as in the Moon Spirit?” 

Adolin nodded, looking up at the sky and pointing at the crescent moon. “Yes well, do you know their story?” 

Kaladin slowly shook his head. 

Adolin grinned, and continued. “Well, long before the lion turtles taught us waterbending and long before we learnt it, they were just like us. Legend has it that...” 

* * *

  
Kaladin listened, as Adolin continued telling the story in his deep, reassuring voice and found the resentment welling down, disappearing beneath him, somewhere below. 

_Did he know? That I was feeling this way?_

_He didn’t have to-_

Kaladin shook his head, smiling slightly.

When did Adolin Kholin _not_ do something he wasn’t supposed to? 

“Hey, what are you laughing at?” Adolin asked softly, smile knowing, as usual. 

“Something stupid.” 

Like the hope blossoming in him, out of nowhere. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems rushed to me?? But that's only because I want to get to the next chapter really really quickly! It's bound to be great! ^^
> 
> ALSO GIMME NICE COMMENTS I AM FEELING LONELY 
> 
> (Ignore that. But to be honest, I'd love some nice constructive criticism!)


	4. Push and Pull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaladin remembers what it's like to have a family. 
> 
> Adolin remembers his first lesson.

"Make yourselves at home!" Evi said pleasantly, while Adolin couldn't stop laughing at Kaladin's gobsmacked expression. 

"Houses don't have to be _this_ big!" Kaladin hissed and Adolin snickered. 

"And you ask me why I call you a peasant, huh?" Adolin asked, elbowing his friend with a grin as he went inside. 

"Kaladin, dear, perhaps you'll be comfortable sharing a room with Adolin?" Evi asked, turning to the young man before dusting the sofa. 

"Uh...Adolin, wouldn't-"

" _Perfectly_ fine with that, Mother!" Adolin said, before stomping on Kaladin's foot discretely. 

Kaladin glared at him before sighing. "Yes, uh-"

"Just call me, Evi, dear." Evi said with a smile as she pat Kaladin's cheek. 

"R-Right. I'll...keep that' in mind." Kaladin stammered out, unused to so much of affection at once. Evi chuckled.

"I'll cook dinner and you boys...speaking of whom- Renarin!"

Adolin bit on his lip, clearly apprehensive as a young man ran in from a door, blinking before freezing at the sight of Adolin and Kaladin. 

"Mother?" Renarin Kholin whispered out, eyes disbelieving. 

Evi smiled, and her smile was sad, Kaladin thought. 

Beautiful, but sad. 

"Renarin, your brother has come home, dear." Evi said softly, eyes earnest. 

Renarin blinked, almost as if he didn't know what to do or say, and Kaladin felt like an intruder. 

"Um, Evi, could you tell me where....the bathroom is?" Kaladin said quickly, swallowing. 

Evi blinked, but perhaps she understood why Kaladin was offering and held his hand, going to the kitchen instead.

* * *

"Hello, Renarin." Adolin said softly, suddenly feeling nauseous with fear. 

Adolin felt the breath taken out of him as his vision suddenly went black and something slammed hard into him. 

"You're back. You're really back, by Tui and La, Adolin, you're really back." Renarin whispered furiously, hugging the other with an unexpected strength. 

Adolin wheezed before smiling, tears in his eyes as he hugged Renarin back. 

"I'm back, little brother. I'm _back_." Adolin whispered out in a shaky voice, crying as he pushed his face into Renarin's shoulder. 

"You're back." Renarin echoed, his own voice trembling as he hugged Adolin even more tightly. 

Adolin pulled back, only to see Renarin's eyes red rimmed, before laughing and hugging his brother again. 

And just like that, the world was all right, Adolin thought joyfully. 

* * *

"You're standing there. And conversing. I won't have you feeling awkward in my home, young man." Evi said, firmly, and Kaladin chuckled awkwardly. 

"If you say so, Evi." 

And she....also reminded him of his own mother. 

_"Smart boy," Hesina said with a chuckle._

_"Hungry boy." A three year old Kaladin grumbled, pawing for the food on the counter._

_Hesina laughed, ruffling his hair. "Hungry boy will get his food when he becomes good boy."_

_"But I am a good boy!" Kaladin whined, eyeing the food longingly._

"Adolin's told me everything he knows about you. And I must say, I'm glad that you two are friends, though..." Evi said, looking away with a sigh. 

"I would have you friends in better circumstances. Not in a meaninglessly wrought war." Evi said, eyes sorrowful. 

Kaladin leaned against the counter, feeling touched by this woman's words. 

She radiated kindness like light, warmth from a friendly fire, much like Adolin himself and instinctively, Kaladin felt himself a lot closer with this woman than he should have been. 

"This war _is_ meaningless. But...no one seems to understand that." Kaladin said, before turning and placing his hands on the counter, sighing. 

"This war has done nothing but take and take. It's the whole reason my family has broken. But I won't indulge you with the details. Your journey must have been arduous it is and I would like to ask you a simple question, dear."

Kaladin turned to face Evi, confused at the knowing smile on her face. 

"Of course." Kaladin replied, wondering what in the name of the blazes was going on. 

"What is it that you think of my son?" Evi asked, folding her arms and looking at him intently. 

_Oh boy,_ Kaladin suddenly thought, feeling nervous. 

"Because he has a very high opinion of you. If what he says is to be believed, you can change the world to something far better than it is today." 

Kaladin's cheeks warmed. _Adolin_ said that about him? 

Adolin said lots of things, but _this_...

This was...

"He shouldn't have said that." Kaladin said quickly, voice unintentionally harsh as his breathing became ragged. 

Evi gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "And why not?"

"I don't deserve that faith. The only reason I'm even here is because he told me to stop being selfish." Kaladin said, words fast as he clenched his fist. 

"No. Because _you_ understood him. Because you allowed yourself to have faith. And if the Fire Nation royalty is anything like what I know it used to be....then, Kaladin, you have to be one of the strongest people out there, child." Evi said gently. 

Kaladin froze, looking at Evi. 

Evi smiled and that smile was full of understanding and compassion. A strength, Kaladin couldn't define, no matter how well versed in the ways of the world one could be. 

"I don't believe that." Kaladin said, voice fragile. 

"I was not expecting you to, dear." Evi says, with a laugh. 

Kaladin bit on his lip. "You asked me what I thought of Adolin." 

Evi let out an amused breath. "I'm not expecting an immediate answer. But I would like one before you leave." She teased and it brought out a smile from Kaladin as well, just a tiny one. 

"I think he's the one person with honor. The one person who understands what it means," Kaladin said softly. 

"The one person who is truly...strong. The Fire Nation can go on about strength and honor all it wants, but the only person who has any of that is Adolin Kholin. And I'm glad. That I got to meet him." Kaladin said, smiling at Evi. 

Evi chuckled, and if Kaladin hadn't been closer, he would not have noticed the tears in her eyes. 

"To hear that, makes me very, very happy."

"You should be proud of him. Though, I imagine that you already are." Kaladin said, grinning slightly. 

"Of course. To be not proud of that young man...I can't imagine who would be blind enough to do so." Evi said, letting out an amused breath but her eyes darkened and instinctively, Kaladin knew who she was talking about.

"That's not a human. That's a monster." Kaladin said, looking at the moon. 

Evi sighed, and Kaladin turned to look back at her. 

"I have nothing to tell me otherwise." Evi said softly, in a voice so soft that Kaladin realized he wasn't meant to hear it. 

And anger at Dalinar Kholin swept over him anew, for hurting not only thousands of innocents, for not only sending hundreds to the pyre, but for hurting the family that could have loved him. 

And Kaladin swears to himself at that moment, that he would bring Dalinar Kholin to justice. 

* * *

Renarin can't stop laughing, and ordinarily while Adolin would have given a limb or two to see Renarin laugh, this was _not_ what he meant.

"Shut up. I just thought he might be the one!" Adolin whined, tossing a glove at Renarin. 

The glove hit Renarin's face but the aggravating youngster only takes it off his face before grinning at Adolin. "Well, I only saw Kaladin for three seconds, but I'm starting to see why you'd think that." Renarin said, shaking his head with a chuckle. 

"Well...he did fit the description old Jevena gave me..." Adolin said, kicking his legs into the air from his position on the bed. 

Renarin snorted. "What was it again? Something about a really strong person?"

Adolin sighed. "Well. It said that the person I'd marry was going to be one of the most powerful benders ever,"

"He's the Avatar. Seems just about right."

"Stop interrupting me. That they were going to be...yay tall-" Adolin said, stretching his hand upwards to indicate how much, which ended up in him stretching his whole hand above him. 

"Again, kinda obvious." 

"And would be like a storm. Gentle but passionate all the same. Seems like this one is the one. Because the only powerful bender tall as me is Jasnah-"

Renarin dissolved into fits of laughter again, shaking his head. 

"And I don't _think_ that old lady was talking about my cousin." Adolin finished, before throwing a pillow at Renarin. 

Renarin grinned before tossing it back at Adolin, who got up from his bed with an offended gasp and threw the pillow back at Renarin. 

"This, is going to get personal. brother." Renarin said, but Adolin wasn't intimated by the flames on his brother's hand. 

"Ha. I'd like to see how deep into the ground you can burn my scimitar into." Adolin said with a grin. 

Renarin smiled, but Adolin was certain he hadn't imagined the flicker of sadness that passed by in his younger brother's eyes. 

"Boys!"

Adolin and Renarin stared at their mother, giving them a reproving look from the door while Kaladin was snickering behind her, leaning against the doorframe. 

"I won't have you destroying your bedroom! Now _get_ to sleep." Evi said sternly.

"But _he_ started it!" Adolin protested in disbelief, pointing at Renarin, who chose that moment to sat on the bed like an innocent child. 

Kaladin laughed into his hand, making Adolin glare at him. 

"What are you, Adolin? Five?" Evi asked him, unimpressed. 

"No but he makes me behave it! He was the one who started- oh, _don't_ you start acting like an innocent child, you little brat, why I ought to-"

Kaladin burst into full blown laughter at seeing Adolin tackle Renarin to the ground with a pretentious battle cry while Evi just sighed. 

You couldn't blame Kaladin for laughing. The way Adolin leapt from the couch to Renarin's bed was reminiscent of a drunk lemur that Kaladin had deemed fit to release into Adolin's bedroom once. 

"Boys. Kaladin, you can come sleep here." 

Kaladin immediately stood as if at attention, eyes wide. "Wait but no-"

"I may not know how you dealt with Adolin like this, but I don't want you to. I'll sleep with these children tonight." Evi said, shaking her head with a hand to her forehead. 

Kaladin was suddenly met with Evi's eyes before softening considerably and nodding. "Of course." 

* * *

"You ready?" 

Kaladin nodded, looking hesitant. "Adolin, I told you, you don't have to come with me." 

The mornings in the Water Tribe were just the same as the nights, but except with just a little more light. 

The sun rose, casting faint shadows on the ground. 

Adolin was busy shoving his scimitar into its sheath, not minding what the other was saying. 

"You have a family, you can-"

"I made the decision to join you, dumbass. My mother and brother are fine with it. And if I didn't join you, I wouldn't have met them anyway. So shut up before I decide to paralyze you." Adolin said, giving Kaladin an unimpressed look. 

"But still...you don't have to do this-"

"And what, sit back and wonder what you're doing?"

"You can't see your family _again_." Kaladin warned, a little desperation seeping into his voice. 

"I know." Adolin said simply, walking forward.

"You should go back-"

"And do what, Kaladin?" Adolin asked patiently, turning back to look at Kaladin. 

Kaladin bit on his lip. "Protect them." He said, finally. 

"My brother can protect both of them. He's a powerful firebender, in case you forgot." Adolin said, folding his arms. 

"But...you just got them back-"

"Yes. Yes, I just got them back. But you also know something else? I can also do nothing to stop this war. You know they'll go for the Northern Water Tribe next-"

"And you can protect them then-"

"And what about you?" Adolin asked, quietly. 

Kaladin froze. "What about me?"

"What are you going to do? Don't you think you can travel safer with someone? Besides, having someone, anyone really, would help you finish this faster." 

"I know but..."

"But what?"

"If you die-"

"Then I'll do so happily and on my own terms, idiot. If I die, it will be because of a choice I made. The right choice." Adolin said firmly. 

"How is this the right choice?" Kaladin shouted, throwing up his hands.

Adolin stared at him, ice blue eyes steady and calm. "Because I'll be able to do something. Because I'll be able to help my friend, in some way, however small. And that'll have been enough for me. If I sit back with my family, I won't get answers. I won't be able to help you. And that'll hurt more than being away from my family. If you cannot understand that, Kaladin, then I will leave if you want me to." 

Kaladin recoiled, as if slapped. "What? No! But-"

"Then what is holding you back from admitting you could use a little bit of help, moron?" Adolin asked, voice placid as he folded his arms. 

"I don't want to separate you from your family." Kaladin said, pained, facing away. 

_Like the Fire Nation did to me._

_Like Dalinar did to you._

The words however, remained unspoken out of fear.

"You are not going to be able to separate me from my family any time soon."

Adolin's voice was soft, and Kaladin looked up only to see the former smiling. 

"What?"

"How can a member of my own family separate me _from_ family, idiot?" Adolin asked, shaking with laughter. 

Kaladin blinked. "What?" He asked, eyes wide. 

What?

"You're _family_." Adolin said, voice trembling with mirth as he clapped the other on his shoulder. 

"I'm what now?"

"You're a part of my family, Kaladin Stormblessed. Come whatever may."

"Really?" Kaladin asked, blinking. 

"Really." 

_Family._

"Don't you have a whole other world to go into?" Adolin continued, chuckling. 

"I...yeah."

"Then come on!"

"Just a minute." Kaladin said, before unhooking his water skin from his hip and proffering it to Adolin. 

Adolin froze. 

"What, why-"

"Family looks out for each other, yeah?"

"But- that was-"

"Just in case." 

"I-" But Kaladin's gaze was far too piercing for Adolin to ignore. That and the younger refused to let the water skin move an inch away from his face. 

"Oh, fine. Idiot." Adolin said with a sigh, swiping away the bottle before walking away with a smile, cheeks warm. 

"You're following said idiot!" Kaladin protested, but his eyes were shining. 

"Dream on." Adolin said, smiling to himself as he hooked the water skin on his hip. 

* * *

The Spirit Oasis was nothing like Kaladin expected, and yet it was a relief. 

The place was easily the warmest place in the whole of the Northern Water Tribe- something Kaladin felt okay with, because at least he would have to take off the stupid coat and not shiver. 

It was also the most beautiful. The smell of plants all over invaded the air he breathed in, and there was a serenity to the place that he could connect with. The place was warm, thrumming with life all over, despite its stillness and the wind that blew was a calming balm.

Kaladin breathed in, nodding at Adolin. 

_Now or never. Agni willing, may I find the answers I'm looking for._

"Okay. Do what you got to do. I'll keep watch." Adolin said, nodding back. 

"Thank you." Kaladin said, swallowing and walking up to the pond in the middle of the whole cove. 

There. Tui and La. 

Circling each other in an eternal dance of pull and push, light and dark, opposites, watching them gave Kaladin a peace he hadn't expected he'd feel before death. 

He breathed in again, sitting down at the edge for meditation. 

_Let's do this._

* * *

"This can't be!" Toh shouted, rising from his throne in panic. 

Bashin swallowed, and breathed in, wincing at the blood dripping from his cheek. "Chief Toh, the Fire Nation...the Fire Nation is not here for diplomacy. They mean to take the Avatar back with force."

Toh grit his jaw, closing his eyes shut. "By Tui and La....must they fight? Must they kill us all and conquer?" He muttered to himself, shaking his head before looking at Bashin. 

"Call all our waterbenders. Summon the army. We will show the firebenders that we do not mean to bend to their tyranny." Toh said, nausea filling his stomach despite the confidence he forced himself to put in his words. 

* * *

"Mother!" Renarin shouted, heart beating with panic as he saw the blasts of fire outside their house. 

The Water Tribe was in chaos, the likes of which Renarin had never seen before. Before the colonies. 

_Smoke everywhere, people screaming, tears of hurt..._

It was happening again. 

Evi set her jaw, looking at him. "Go, Renarin." 

Renarin quickly hugged his mother. "Please go to the healing huts." He pleaded, and Evi smiled sadly, nodding as she cupped the back of her son's head, kissed his forehead and walked away, outside. 

Renarin's fists enveloped with fire, and he jumped outside the window. 

If Adolin was going to get himself killed or captured _now..._

Renarin wasn't going to stand for it. Too long he had watched uncomprehendingly as his father called his brother a monster, and this time, he was not going to sit back. 

He knew Adolin would have been there for him, _somehow_ , despite it all, if their places were interchanged. 

* * *

If someone told Adolin he would be faced with a blast of fire that did not come from Kaladin while he was in the Spirit Oasis with just Kaladin two seconds before said blast of fire hit him, he would have lifted Kaladin away, heaviness be damned and just run away. 

As it was, he had to get hit by said blast of fire. 

And it pushed him a good three feet away. Into a tree no less. 

And it ruined his coat. 

Adolin gasped in pain, getting up before widening his eyes at the attacker. 

"Who _the-Father."_ Adolin wheezed out with no small amount of venom, getting up and taking out his sword. 

There he was. 

Dalinar Kholin. 

A liar. The man who had been someone Adolin hadn't believed to be. 

He didn't know where all this blind rage had been this whole time, but as his blood roared in his ears at the sight of the man- strong, immovable, unfeeling, Adolin clenched his jaw and stood in a defensive position. 

"Traitor." Dalinar said calmly, and Adolin tried not to flinch at the word. 

"The Fire Nation's here then. To cause trouble and destruction as per usual." Adolin hissed out, narrowing his eyes. 

"To take back what _you_ stole." Dalinar said, narrowing his own eyes and it sickened Adolin of how much those eyes mirrored his. 

_Who are you, Father? A liar?_

_Did you not love us at all, from the first?_

_I know you never loved me._

_But you could have at least loved Mother-_

The thoughts only caused his knees to wobble slightly and Adolin clicked his tongue, watching Kaladin meditate from the corner of his eye before rushing in and charging at his father.

"To presume that the Avatar, a being older than time, belongs to you is nothing more than short-sighted arrogance!" Adolin shouted, attacking his father's flaming fists with his sword. 

Dalinar blocked the attack before swinging down on him, Adolin however was too late to block it and ended up getting his sword wielding arm singed, the pain of which made him wobble a few steps back.

"I should think, I'm not the one who is arrogant here." Dalinar said quietly, and Adolin grit his jaw, the burn mark on his arm making it numb. 

_Heal it, you idiot!_ A voice sounding suspiciously like Kaladin's screamed in his head and Adolin took in a shuddering breath, glancing at the water skin attached to his hip. 

_I could have an edge over him. Now._

_I could show him that what he said doesn't matter,_ Adolin realized, but his knees were still shaking at the very thought.

Just then, Dalinar struck him with his sword and Adolin blocked it by switching his sword over to the other arm, his sword arm paining most infernally. 

_"You can do it, Adolin. You can!"_

Adolin widened his eyes at the unbidden memory, shaking as he struggled to fend off his father's blow, and from the corner of his eye, he looked at Kaladin once more.

The only one who hadn't shamed him for his, no...for who he was, since Mother and Renarin. 

He was fighting right now, to protect that person, wasn't he? 

Adolin breathed in, moving his sword arm in a slow, weak flourish, and water slipped out of his water skin in a fluid motion before covering his sword arm in an encasement of ice, chilling and strengthening his arm.

Dalinar recoiled as if struck, eyes widening as Adolin dropped his sword to the ground, looking at it once, and fell into a stance- hands outstretched, one leg backwards. 

An offensive stance of waterbending. 

"If you thought I was going to go quietly, you haven't been paying attention, Father." Adolin said, quietly. 

"You insolent _half-breed_ -" Dalinar hissed out and Adolin let out a humorless snort. 

Adolin didn't deign to reply, instead pushing his trembling hands forward and willing the column of water to strike his father. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.  
> for plot purposes, Renarin is not in fact, epileptic. You'll see why I went with that.
> 
> i wanted to like write more, but hey. Couldn't wait any longer to post this haha.  
> Also, you'll get reasons why Dalinar is like this. If you bear with me lol. Despite this being an Avatar AU, this is more of a character pushing- I want to experiment with these guys, see their thoughts when put into different positions etc etc. 
> 
> So? Reviews? Please? I'd love feedback! i'm lonely, hit me up on tumblr (serenesavagery)


	5. Don't Forget Your Water Skin

The Spirit World. 

"Well, not what I expected, but I'll take it." Kaladin said to himself, looking at the various spirits that hopped around with bemusement. 

"You have a way with your tongue, young one." Came a sharp, yet amused male voice from behind him and Kaladin stood on alert, turning only to see...

A man with clearly regal bearing, and the command of a leader. He looked to be in his thirties, if Kaladin had to go for a rough estimate, and his eyes were sharp, knowing. 

There was something familiar about him-

"Avatar Jezrien." Kaladin said, quickly. 

Jezrien smiled. "Avatar Kaladin. I see you've followed the words of my daughter." 

"Well, I had no choice in the matter considering I have a duty to the world." Kaladin said, simply. 

Jezrien nodded. "And you will have to serve it. I'll apologize for the cryptic information Shalash gave you...but you already solved half the mystery on your own, by sheer force of will." 

"You say you're apologizing for cryptic information and you're already being even more cryptic?" Kaladin asked, blinking when a little blue, infant-like dragon-resembling spirit curled itself all over his arm with a coo. 

Kaladin waved his arm frantically with a sound that most certainly wasn't a squeak but the spirit whined and rooted itself there. On his arm.

"Hey, you've got better places to be, little one! Certainly not my arm!" Kaladin hissed frantically, and the spirit whined in a babyish voice. 

"She knows you won't get rid of her that easily, Kaladin." Jezrien said with a chuckle. 

Kaladin made a face, before touching the head. "Come on, now. That can't be comfortable for you." He said softly, and the spirit shook its, no, _her_ head and Kaladin sighed. 

"You're gonna stay there, aren't you."

The spirit cooed happily. 

Kaladin sighed. "Fine. Don't cry when I leave." 

The spirit just bobbed up and down happily. 

"Some spirits are attuned to some more than others. This one recognizes and is comforted by something deep inside you, I believe." Jezrien said, smiling. 

"Something like a spirit guide?" Kaladin asked, blinking. He had read of Jezrien's majestic air bison, Chana's dragon...

"You'll see." Jezrien said, chuckling again and Kaladin sighed.

"I'm guessing I'm not here to bond with my potential spirit guide, am I?"

"No," Jezrien sobered and Kaladin stiffened.

"Kaladin, listen to me carefully. You took some evidence with you, didn't you? Shalash had discovered the truth, young Kaladin...that we are not the masters of our world. Benders and humans are not the original inhabitants of this world. The singers whom we call Voidbringers are actually the ones who have lived here." 

Kaladin blinked, eyes wide before breathing in. Patience. 

He remembered the art piece he had borrowed-

It appeared as if he hadn't been that off the mark, after all, he thought, with a feeling of dread. 

"They're angry. And they are the reason for this chaos. We destroyed their lives by demanding more and more, even when they guided us in the art of bending. And now they still remain. And they would like to see us suffer." Jezrien said, heavily. 

"Where are they, though? And didn't Avatar Talenel defeat them? At a heavy price?" 

Jezrien sighed. "They've made their spiritual presences virtually difficult to place. You'll have to search the whole world-"

Great.

"And as to Avatar Talenel...yes. He paid a very heavy price to seal off the singers' powers. He did this at the cost of his sanity and his spiritual presence, wrecking the Avatar's soul beyond repair to seal them off." Jezrien said, facing away. 

"That is why five centuries have passed...to regurgitate after the tampering of a soul...not even the Avatar will find it easy. But you are here. And you must _end_ this conflict, Kaladin. This conflict between human and singer has gone on for thousands of years. You must end it, Kaladin. That, will be what you are to do."

Kaladin swallowed. 

_Sounds like I'm going to have to do something thousands of Avatars before me couldn't do..._

By Agni, how was he supposed to unite two species, one of which had been brutally tortured by mankind, went missing and were probably thirsting for vengeance? 

Kaladin grit his jaw, swallowing again. 

"End the Fire Nation's tyranny. Unite two worlds. That's easy." Kaladin muttered, and Jezrien smiled sadly. 

"We are sorry to put this burden on your shoulders, young one. But...this is what must be done."

Kaladin sighed. He was going to do it anyway. 

"I swear then. I'm going to do this. No matter what it asks of me." Kaladin said, softly. 

"I didn't come here just to tell you this. Staying in the Spirit World helps heal the damage to your soul. And speaking of spirits...you should know something else." 

"Which is?' Kaladin asked, shaken out of his stupor. 

"Whatever you go through the spirit world...remember that the same isn't guaranteed in the physical realm, young one." Jezrien said gravely, and Kaladin blinked, but when he opened his eyes again, Jezrien was gone. 

Kaladin looked at the blue spirit. "You have any idea what he's talking about?"

The spirit whined, in distress. 

Kaladin winced. "That does _not_ sound good." 

* * *

Fighting against an angry and very powerful firebender with your newly not dormant waterbending powers was difficult, Adolin realized, as he kept defending himself with columns of water to counter his father's furious blows.

Adolin grunted as the force of a particularly strong flaming punch pushed through his icy barrier and sent him a few steps back. 

"I don't think you're going to send me to the Fire Nation alive at this rate!" Adolin shouted, slamming his hands on the ground and causing a huge row of barbed ice to emerge from the ground. The result was that his father's leg got run through with ice. 

Adolin bit on his lip. Time for it. 

He raised his hands above his head before spinning them just as one did in a kata, knowing he had only seconds before his father was going to probably murder him...if the way he glared at his now bleeding leg and Adolin was any indication. 

_One._

Water swirled around his hands as they moved, and Adolin could feel the energy of the water, the energy with which it sustained life, pulsating through that water. 

_Two._

He breathed in, letting the water tell him what to do. 

_Three._

"Tui and La, please let it work." Adolin muttered, before pushing the water forward with one hand above his head and clenching the fist of his other hand, pushing said hand in the direction he wanted the water to go. 

The water enveloped his father, and it froze him completely. 

Just then, Kaladin got up with a gasp, before staring at Adolin and the frozen figure of Dalinar Kholin. 

Kaladin widened his eyes, and Adolin smiled sheepishly, laughing awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck, blushing under that intense gaze. 

"You did that." 

Adolin winced. "Uh. Yeah." 

Kaladin blinked before smirking, and Adolin would be _damned_ if that was a little sliver of pride in that face.

 _Spirits, save me, I can't deal with_ that, Adolin thought desperately. 

"Guess you didn't forget your first lesson after all." 

_"First lesson- don't forget your water skin, kid. You forget it, you're doomed." Adolin said dryly, shaking the water skin in front of Kaladin's face._

_Kaladin wrinkled his nose._

"Of course not. I taught that to you. I'd be a pretty lousy teacher if I forgot my own lessons." Adolin said in precisely the same dry tone of voice he had used back then, rolling his eyes, cheeks warmer as Kaladin chuckled. 

"Well- considering that you froze the commander of the invading army, this whole business should be over by now-"

Unfortunately, as it turned out, it was _not_ over. 

Kaladin and Adolin both widened their eyes, exchanging alarmed looks as they felt a sudden burst of raw, intense _heat_ emanate throughout, making the already warm oasis now particularly suffocating. 

"Father." Adolin said with a grimace, turning only to look at the block of ice he had encased his father in melt in a rather disturbing and ominous manner. 

The ice melted like flowing lava, and Dalinar slowly stomped out of it, eyes wide with rage as he breathed heavily. 

"Get back- you're injured." Kaladin commanded, eyes catching Adolin's frozen arm. 

"I can still handle myself, farm boy. Is there anything else you have to do here or-" 

"I don't think so, my job here's done." Kaladin said grimly, hand lighting up on fire. 

"Good- we need a plan of attack. Get to handling the Fire Nation army, _I'll_ handle him." Adolin said, his own palms slowly getting enveloped with ice. 

"But-"

"You're too important. Besides," Adolin said, narrowing his eyes. 

"I can handle this." He said ominously, just as Dalinar rushed forward with a flaming punch. 

Kaladin shook his head, having made up his own mind. 

He would stay here. And help his friend. 

He knew he was obliged to do that much. 

* * *

"It shouldn't take Dalinar long to do his job." Sadeas grumbled, watching the whole scene of chaos enfold from inside one of the ships. 

"I'm guessing, he got held up." Ialai said softly, exchanging a look with her husband. 

The Avatar may have only been a stripling, but he was still the most powerful bender in existence. 

Not to mention...Adolin Kholin was a strong waterbender- if the way he had frozen Amaram was any indication. 

They had underestimated the duo. And the might of the Northern Water Tribe. 

"Oh, fine. And I thought he could handle that wisp of an Avatar by himself." Sadeas said, sighing dramatically before jumping off the ship. 

* * *

Adolin fought like he was about to die. 

He was tired, his instincts were screaming at him to lie down and not do anything and his pulse was throbbing everywhere. 

But as he exchanged blows with his father, who seemed determined to kill him, he couldn't stop fighting. He couldn't.

To do so would mean giving up. To this person, who hated him, for something Adolin couldn't understand. 

Dalinar roared as Adolin swiped a kick with an ice-covered leg, catching it. 

Adolin grunted in pain, for the hold Dalinar had was not gentle, and brought up a splurge of water from the grass beneath him, blasting it in his father's face. 

Dalinar let go of his leg, and punched Adolin's abdomen with a flaming fist, making Adolin scream out in pain. 

He fell down on one knee, breathing heavily. 

" _Adolin_!" Kaladin yelled, but Adolin held up a hand, blood dripping from his mouth. 

"No. I _have_ to do this. I thought...I thought I told you to leave." Adolin whispered out, closing his eyes as he felt water suddenly heal him. 

Never was he more certain about anything. 

He couldn't hear what Kaladin said even as the latter healed him, because the blood was roaring in his ears, far, far too much. 

"I don't understand, why in the name of the spirits you, you hate me so much when _you lied to my face!_ " Adolin screamed, catching his father's flaming hand. 

"Because you're a _monster_." Dalinar spat out, and the words were spat out so harshly that Adolin flinched. 

_"That monster...he can control our very bodies! Like those demons from the Southern Water Tribe! You expect me to be proud of that?!"_

"If that's the case, then _what are you?_ " Adolin roared back, fighting back the urge to hide himself and cry, jumping up and spinning his leg into his father's face. 

Dalinar however caught his leg and twisted it and Adolin once again cried out in pain. 

"You are not going back alive." Dalinar said, quietly and Adolin's face scrunched up in pain.

"Let him go."

"Quiet, Avatar. _This_ does not matter to you." 

"On the contrary, I think it does." Kaladin growled, somehow audible through all the pain, the sheer hurt that was coursing throughout Adolin's body. 

He focused his free palm on the ground, squeezing his eyes shut as he forced the water out of it and willed it upwards, causing it to freeze his father's hand. 

Adolin stumbled as his father let go of his leg, gasping. 

"Well, well....didn't peg you to have so much of trouble fighting two children, Dalinar." 

Adolin stiffened, at the sound of that very much hated voice. 

Torol Sadeas. 

" _Sadeas_ ," Adolin spat out, voice hoarse, leg throbbing.

"I wouldn't have had any trouble if not for the spare. He's stronger than we gave him credit for." Dalinar rasped out, and Adolin had to force himself to not flinch at the words. 

"It appears so. Hello to you two. I suppose if we can't get rid of you two, we might as well get rid of the waterbenders." Sadeas drawled, smiling. 

"What?"

"We abandon our course. Dalinar- the Moon Spirit, if you will. Or should I take care of it myself?" Sadeas said, sardonically.

Dalinar scoffed. "Shut up. It's just some stupid fish."

"We're _not_ letting you do anything to said stupid fish." Kaladin snarled, raising his hand and moving it around to freeze Dalinar's feet to the ground.

"I'm not letting you stop me, you whelp." 

The ice melted to a puddle, but by the time it did so, Kaladin had run over to the pond.

"You're getting through _me_ first to get to that fish." Kaladin hissed, and Dalinar's fists burned up. 

"And you'll see your friend die, Stormblessed." Sadeas said smoothly, holding a limp Adolin by the back of his shirt, earning him a lot of pained grunts. 

Kaladin grit his jaw, watching as Adolin swung back, kicked him and jumped to the ground, feeling relieved that even when heavily beaten up, Adolin could handle himself. 

He had tried healing the latter, but he wasn't good at it. As usual, Kaladin thought desperately. 

Adolin hadn't become a general of the world's biggest army at the age of sixteen just because he was Dalinar Kholin's son after all. 

"Not happening." Kaladin said, an idea coming to him as he looked at the fish pulling and pushing on each other. 

_We can help you, Avatar of the Lost..._

_If you're willing to take it._

Kaladin widened his eyes, and Dalinar was rushing at him. 

There wasn't any time to lose. 

_Spirits willing, let this not end in bloodshed,_ Kaladin prayed, as he looked at the two fish. 

And then, the whole oasis was alight all over. 

* * *

Now, Renarin hadn't seen many miracles in life. His brother in his arms, that certainly was one. 

The giant blue, fish shaped spirit arising from the Spirit Oasis was another. 

Renarin stopped assaulting the firebender who had stopped him from going to the Spirit Oasis, kicking him away as he felt energy thrum all over the land, and widened his eyes. 

The whole land under him....felt _alive._ The air coursed with rippling energy all over, and Renarin knew, in that moment, something was going to change. 

The skies darkened, and the clouds aligned ominously, filling Renarin with a sense of anticipation. 

"Something's happening," Renarin whispered to himself, hands throbbing as he turned back to face the Spirit Oasis, before gaping. 

There, from the Spirit Oasis, arose a giant blue spirit, with...heads of two koi fish, and...

There was a man inside it. 

No _ordinary_ man, Renarin realized with awe.

 _Kaladin_.

The Avatar. 

* * *

Adolin immediately knelt down, knowing what this great being in front of him was. 

His father and Sadeas however, weren't so wise. 

> " _Leave. Leave this place_." 

Adolin shivered, sweat dripping down from his head as the spirits spoke in Kaladin's voice, which was now much deeper and more chilling- something not human at all. 

> " _Leave! Or face death in punishment for harming the innocent!"_ The spirits boomed out, and Dalinar and Sadeas exchanged alarmed looks. 

Torrents of wind were blowing past them, and somehow, somehow Adolin didn't fly off unlike the other two, who were struggling to stand still. 

"By Agni, what has happened?" Sadeas yelled, face pale in the face of this great creature before them. 

"The boy must have connected with the spirits!" Dalinar shouted, looking shocked. 

> _ "LEAVE!"  _

A large wave swept out the Fire Nation naval ships away, and Adolin only grinned at the sight though it made him feel slightly sick inside-considering most of the soldiers were probably men he knew, and that thought wiped off his grin. 

Or not, Adolin prayed. 

" _We will not bend!_ " 

Adolin widened his eyes the second he heard the chants from behind him. 

From the city. 

Spirits...

The whole scene, with the waterbenders and the folk chanting the phrase, the energy the spirit radiated, the light of the full moon shining on them...

Awe welled up in Adolin, and a sense of pride, one that he had fooled himself into feeling at the Fire Nation. But this, this pride he was feeling right now...it was genuine. It was from the heart, and it resonated within him. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Adolin felt like he _belonged_ somewhere. He felt that righteous anger of invaders trespassing in his home. 

And by the spirits, did he feel it surge in him. 

" _We will not bend!_ " Adolin yelled along with the people of the Northern Water Tribe, and the firebenders looked at him for a moment before looking at the spirit.

And he screamed it again, again and again. 

" _We will not bend!_ " 

* * *

" _We will not bend!_ " Renarin yelled with the crowd, one knee on the ground, along with the people. 

* * *

" _We will not bend._ " Evi and the other women in the healing huts chanted softly to themselves, upon seeing Tui and La's wrath, and Evi folded her hands in prayer. 

* * *

" _We will not bend_!" Toh yelled with the others, closing their eyes as they felt the gaze of their gods upon them. 

* * *

" _We will not bend!_ " The waterbenders screamed, in one voice, with one soul. 

* * *

"This is getting out of hand. That's not Stormblessed anymore, that's the Avatar and we'll end up losing our entire navy if we continue this farce of an assault!" Dalinar hissed, and Sadeas only nodded. 

"We have to retreat." Sadeas said with a grimace. 

Adolin smirked to himself in triumph, even as he chanted with the others. 

And he still kept smiling, as the Fire Nation soldiers quietly retreated.

* * *

* * *

The next morning was tiring. For Kaladin. 

"We can't thank you enough, Lord Avatar!" Toh cried out joyfully, even as Kaladin's eye twitched from exhaustion, at the gates of the palace. 

People were cheering loudly, and Adolin felt heartened as he heard them scream in a language that he knew. 

He turned back and grinned at his mother, whose eyes were moist with proud tears and Renarin, whose soft smile shone with happiness, winking at them. 

Evi laughed while Renarin rolled his eyes, still grinning. 

Adolin chuckled to himself as Kaladin struggled to keep his eyes awake.

"And you too, of course, Prince Adolin! We can't thank you enough as well, either." Toh said, smile brimming with pride. 

Adolin's cheeks dusted pink, and it was not from the cold.

"The Northern Water Tribe is at your debt-"

"Absolutely not." Kaladin said, quickly. He then continued. "The Avatar looks over the world, and balances it. I was just doing my job." 

Toh smiled. "Very well then. Rest for today. I'm assured that the Fire Nation will not be here, not in a hurry, and you two are clearly exhausted. We will send you off tomorrow." 

* * *

This time, Adolin and Kaladin moved to Evi's room while Evi and Renarin stayed in their own. 

"Your mom's cooking is kinda out of this world." Kaladin remarked from his position on the floor, smiling. 

"Well, of course it is." Adolin said in a huffy voice, making Kaladin laugh. 

They both looked at each other, Adolin from the bed Kaladin threatened to freeze him to, and Kaladin from the floor. 

"Where to, next?" Adolin asked, propping himself up on an elbow and resting his chin on his hand. 

Kaladin sighed. "I'm not sure. The task ahead is daunting...but I think I should go to one of the Air Temples. See if one of the airbenders'll teach me airbending. It's the one that seems the most difficult." 

Adolin blinked. "Huh."

It made sense. Kaladin would let go of things with the greatest difficulty and had trouble freeing himself from the confines of his own mind. Seeing Kaladin free and happy was less likely than getting snow in the Fire Nation.

"All righty. Off to the Air Nation later then. Get some sleep." Adolin said, yawning. 

"Okay." Kaladin said softly, his eyes far away. 

Adolin knew what Kaladin was thinking about- about the...

"You did what you had to." Adolin murmured, flicking the other's forehead. 

Kaladin shook his head. "I still shouldn't have done it. The spirits shouldn't have done it. There were good men inside that ship." 

Adolin sighed. "Men die in war, Kaladin and they know they can. You can't save them all." He said, reasonably. 

"But I _should_. The Avatar should be able to, right?" 

"Hey. You've got a lot more to learn, as we keep going. Their lives are not on your hands. They happen to be on the hands of my family. Not yours. Your hands can't kill, Kaladin- I know that."

Kaladin looked up at him, vulnerable, brown eyes scared and Adolin smiled slightly, in reassurance. 

"I still did it." Kaladin whispered, pained. 

Adolin sighed. "And is beating yourself up about it making you feel any better? Is it helping you think of what you should do next?" 

Kaladin frowned. 

Adolin bit on his lip. "I know...that my father isn't the most....well, greatest human being out there. But you know something? He told me something smart. Grieve later. That's how you get on with the fight ahead of you. Grieve. It's okay to. But we can't stop the fight and grieve, lest we get ourselves killed. But we _can_ grieve later. When the fighting is over." He said, words soft and quiet against the rushing of water outside. 

Kaladin stared at whatever invisible adversary was in front of him, and then smiled slightly. "Smart." 

"I know." Adolin said, with a cocky smile, and Kaladin chuckled, hand raised to swat at Adolin's head. 

Adolin let himself get swatted, and didn't even complain, finding the sight of Kaladin's smile much better. 

* * *

Watching Adolin let go of his family was the hardest thing to witness, for Kaladin. 

Adolin hugged his mother tightly, kissing her cheek before whispering something to her and then turning to Renarin, smiling and ruffling his hair. 

"May the tides be fair and just to you, child." Evi said, softly and Adolin nodded. 

"You as well, Mother. Renarin. The Fire Nation won't come back in a while, but still. Be safe." 

Evi nodded before looking at Kaladin. "Come over here, dear!"

Kaladin felt startled, before Adolin dragged him over. 

Evi hugged him tightly, and Kaladin let out a small _'oof'_ as she did so, before sighing with a slight smile and hugging her back. 

"Be safe, dear." Evi said, letting go and Kaladin smiled wider, her soft gaze warming him. 

"I'll try to." 

"You better be, child. Now, farewell." Evi said, smiling. 

* * *

* * *

Leagues away from the North Pole, nearing the Southern Air Temples, Kaladin felt that he had drank too much water and it was with this thought in mind, did he go inside the deck to get a bucket. 

He was not expecting Renarin Kholin, huddled in a corner, to widen his eyes at him. 

"Whoa!" Kaladin let out, and Renarin stood up frantically, looking green and also panicked. 

"We left you at the port!" Kaladin said disbelievingly, pointing at Renarin. 

"C-Can you give me a moment to explain?" Renarin asked, grimacing. 

"Kaladin, what's happening?" Adolin called from his position at the steering wheel, and Kaladin threw up his hands. 

"We have a stowaway is what is happening!" Kaladin shouted back, gaping at Renarin. 

"What do you _mean_ we have a stowaway?" Adolin yelled back, exasperated. 

"Take a look for yourself!" 

"Shouldn't someone be...steering the ship?" Renarin asked, raising his eyebrow. 

Kaladin stared at him. "As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point there. Adolin, come here quick!" Kaladin said, jogging out. 

Adolin gave him an unimpressed look. "Well?"

"Your brother's in there." Kaladin said, now steering the ship. 

"That's not funny." Adolin said, raising an eyebrow. 

"I'm not kidding, he really is inside." Kaladin said, staring at Adolin. 

Adolin stared back, arms folded before marching off to the deck. 

Kaladin winced when he heard yelling from the deck. 

" _RENARIN KHOLIN, WHAT DO YOU_ MEAN _MOM LET YOU COME WITH US?!"_

Oh boy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't even know why i love this au so much lol. 
> 
> anyone wants to scream at me or talk, you're always welcome!! i don't bite lol


	6. Don't Get Any Ideas

Adolin hadn't spoken with Renarin for nearly an hour and Kaladin was starting to get alarmed. And sorry for Renarin. 

"Uh...hey." Kaladin volunteered, awkward.

Renarin looked surprised, but nodded in greeting, looking just as awkward. "Um. Hey."

"Hey, what he'd tell you?" Kaladin asked softly, the two of them staring over the sea. 

Renarin looked surprised but gratified. He hugged himself, and started speaking in a small voice. "He wasn't very happy. And he might have...made me feel really guilty about this whole thing." Renarin said, sheepishly. 

Kaladin winced. "Yeah, that mother sparrowkeet attitude definitely reeks of Adolin." 

Renarin chuckled. 

"I heard that. I'm _not_ a mother sparrowkeet." Adolin said sharply, and when he turned back to the steering wheel, Kaladin made a face, making Renarin laugh. 

"Hey, I get where he's coming from. I mean..." Kaladin's heart wrenched, as memories of Tien came unbidden. 

"I lost my brother." Kaladin continued, and Renarin's eyes widened before he turned away. 

"I'm sorry." Renarin said sincerely, and Kaladin shook his head. 

"It was a long time ago. But point is, I understand why Adolin's stressed out. He left thinking you were safe and sound, and now you're here on this dangerous quest. Of course he's going to get worried." Kaladin said softly, looking down at the sea. 

Renarin swallowed a lump. "Well...Kaladin...it's just..." 

"It's just what?" Kaladin asked, not looking up from the sea.

"Have you ever felt useless?" Renarin asked quietly, and Kaladin looked up at him so quickly his neck cricked a little. 

"Knowing you can do something, but you are unable to? Do you know what that feels like?" Renarin asked, swallowing again. 

"Of course I do." Kaladin said, now understanding. 

"Then you should know why I'm here." Renarin said, jaw clenched with an intensity that had an uncanny resemblance to Dalinar, so uncanny that Kaladin blinked, startled. 

Kaladin turned to Adolin, who was steering away even more quickly, that he was starting to feel a little queasy. 

"Brother's never told you why our father hates him, right?" Renarin said, words spoken through grit teeth. 

Outwardly, he was calm, in a way that Kaladin had to admire. But the _fury_ behind those words...

"I know that it's because he's a waterbender. But..." 

Renarin exhaled throughout his nose, sighing, speaking in a voice so quiet Kaladin had to strain his ears to hear it. "Our father was on an expedition to the Southern Water Tribe, one year before Brother was born,"

"The expedition that wiped them off?" Kaladin whispered back, listening intently. 

Renarin nodded. "Yeah. But they weren't supposed to be killed. Just intimidated. Father was the one who killed all of them."

Kaladin widened his eyes- he hadn't known this particular piece of information. "By Agni, how many _genocides_ -"

Renarin shook his head steadfastly, clenching on to the rails of the ship tightly. "I'd rather not think about it. The reason he did that was because a waterbender bloodbent him." 

Kaladin looked at Adolin, a horrifying understanding slipping into him, like cold water splattered on him. 

Bloodbending...Kaladin knew what it meant. 

Mostly because Adolin did not let him go to sleep before knowing how truly terrible it was. 

_"There's one branch of waterbending that I know. Not one I've practiced, but I know it in theory, and it's a terrible, terrible skill. I won't teach you it." Adolin said firmly._

_Kaladin frowned. "It can't be that bad."_

_"Wrong. It's a horrible technique and it's evil. Pure evil. I want you to know that before I tell you what it is." Adolin said sharply._

_Kaladin blinked, unsettled by Adolin's stentorian tone._

_"It's called bloodbending. It means forcing a person to do something that you want even though they don't want to do it, by controlling their blood. It's sick and twisted, a crime of nature. To even attempt it means either you're very desperate or you're very messed up in the head, or that you've lost your soul." Adolin said, turning away._

_Kaladin felt a chill run down his back. It didn't sound very pleasant._

_"Why tell me this?"_

_"Because, there may be unfriendly waterbenders. I need you to know everything there's to know about waterbending, otherwise I'm a terrible teacher. If someone bloodbends you, you need to resist them. Otherwise, you'll just_ feel....wrong. _Violated. It's no different from rape or brutal murder." Adolin said darkly, making Kaladin flinch._

"He was scared of Adolin doing the same." Renarin said, knuckles white. 

Kaladin blinked, eyes wide as he turned to look at Adolin. 

_Adolin? Bloodbending?_

Kaladin would sooner find living fire turtles than ever see _that_ happening. 

"Is your father _crazy_?" Kaladin asked finally, gobsmacked. 

Renarin snorted before sobering up with a sigh. "Well...if you fought that many wars and battles, I suppose you'd go crazy too. Not," Renarin paused, looking panicked. " _You,_ specifically, just in, general." Renarin said quickly, looking scared. 

Kaladin smiled slightly. "I get it, don't worry." He then turned to look at Adolin again, worried. 

_How long have you been carrying that burden on your shoulders, Adolin?_

"Watching him getting blamed for something he didn't do, something he isn't capable of...and being unable to do anything about it...I don't want to let him be that alone, ever." Renarin said, voice strangulated. 

Kaladin pat Renarin's back, making the latter look up at him in surprise. 

"You and me both, Renarin. You and me both." 

* * *

"You dragged me to the Eastern Air Temple just because of the nuns, didn't you." Kaladin said dryly, as they settled to making a fire at a site near the temple. 

And by near, Kaladin meant it would take them three days to walk there. 

Adolin gave him a scandalized look and Renarin snorted before stifling it at the scathing look his brother gave him. 

"I did not." Adolin said, with great dignity and Kaladin rolled his eyes. 

"I in fact, took you here, because it was my understanding that we're here, southeast of Ba Sing Se, and we can stay there if we want to." Adolin continued, folding his arms and huffing. 

Kaladin rolled his eyes. "Sure thing." 

"I'll take first watch. You can get to sleep." Kaladin said, before munching down the last of plums. 

Adolin sighed in relief. "Good- not that I don't care about watching and all but I'm kinda tired." 

"Sure. Night." Kaladin said, leaning against a tree and watching the flames of the fire they made flicker by. 

Renarin hugged his knees uncertainly while Adolin slept in a position where his back was to his brother. 

"Give him some time." Kaladin said gently, and Renarin smiled sadly. 

"Yeah, I want to. Has he...has he ever been that angry with you?"

Kaladin snorted. "Plenty of times. Did I ever tell you about the time I found a crazy lemur and I set it into his room?"

"I will freeze you in your sleep, Stormblessed." Adolin's muffled voice came even as Renarin stared at Kaladin and the latter rolled his eyes. 

"You're not the only waterbender here, Kholin." Kaladin said, raising an eyebrow. 

"No, but who do you think taught you waterbending?"

"Hmmm, let's see...I certainly don't think it's the miscreant who spent an hour trying to catch a lemur." Kaladin said, mockingly. 

"I will _shove_ a lemur down your throat one day." Adolin growled from his position, and Kaladin smiled pleasantly. 

"I would _love_ to see you try catching the poor thing first." Kaladin said with a smirk, leaning against the tree. 

An icy arrow shot itself from Adolin's water skin to a spot on the tree a good few feet above from Kaladin's head. 

"Shut up and let me sleep. Also, you're not to associate with traitors." Adolin said with a huff, before snorting politely. 

Renarin and Kaladin stared at each other while crickets chirped in the distance. 

"Who does he think he's fooling?" Kaladin asked quietly, rolling his eyes. 

Renarin shrugged. "Well, Brother's always excelled at dramatics..."

"Guess that's why he likes theater so much." Kaladin said wisely, nodding. 

"Hey, get back to sleep, Renarin. Before you know it, he'll be hugging you and ruffling your hair in no time." Kaladin then continued, clapping a hand on the other's shoulder.

Renarin smiled. "I know." 

Another icy arrow shot itself at a spot on the bark above them even as Adolin snored away and Kaladin and Renarin chuckled. 

* * *

The next morning, Renarin looked suspiciously at a tree, whose leaves fluttered. 

"Renarin?" Kaladin called, looking back. 

"Coming!"

* * *

When the sun was overhead, Kaladin swore that the wind behaved a little too suspiciously when Adolin bathed. 

"Anything seem off to you?" Kaladin asked quietly to Renarin, while Adolin hummed and washed his hair at a waterfall. 

Renarin sighed in relief, a little too pronounced perhaps. " _Yeah."_

"But you get that niggling feeling that-"

"You don't know what it is? _Yes_. I think I heard a sigh!" Renarin said, throwing up his hands. 

Kaladin frowned. "Huh. That does not sound good."

"Keep a watch out, okay?" Kaladin continued, looking at a herb swaying in the wind with the utmost suspicion. 

"Okay." 

* * *

In the night, while the crickets chirped, Adolin had gotten the foresight that something was off. 

"Guys?" Adolin asked, Renarin perking up at the long awaited usage of plural nouns from his brother. 

"Yeah?" Kaladin asked, chewing his way around an apple.

"I think I heard someone breathing. Someone apart from us." Adolin said, frowning. 

"You feel it too? Renarin swears he heard someone sigh when you were bathing- no, don't get any ideas."

Adolin sighed theatrically. "I wasn't about to comment- anyways! What's this mean?"

The three looked at each other warily, disturbed.

Was someone following them?

* * *

They got their answer the next morning when Renarin (who Adolin was _consciously_ not talking to) suddenly went and checked a bush. 

Kaladin and Adolin stared at each other, wondering what in the name of spirits possessed Renarin. 

"Uh, hey, Renarin?" Kaladin called, upon receiving the pointed look Adolin gave him. 

Renarin didn't respond, and took apart the bush methodically, revealing...

A sheepishly grinning red haired girl. 

Kaladin blinked and Adolin just stared skeptically at the bush. Or more specifically, the girl now covered in leaves. 

She was young, too young- and her face radiated a cherubic but cheeky innocence, blue eyes wide while she chuckled nervously. She was wearing orange robes, traditional Air Nomad attire, and on her forehead, there was a blue arrow. 

Kaladin widened his eyes. 

"You're an _Air Nomad_?"

The girl laughed nervously. "Uh, yes?" 

"What are you following us for?" Kaladin asked, surprised. 

The girl bit on her lip. "Monkey feathers- I imagined this going far better in my head." She said, rolling her eyes. 

* * *

Renarin watched the tomato soup- he proved to be extremely versatile at cooking, while Kaladin interrogated the strange girl, whose name happened to be Shallan. 

"I look out for perverts-"

Kaladin raised an eyebrow. "You didn't seem to have a problem looking at that specimen in nude." 

Adolin gawked while Shallan blushed furiously and threw a plum at Kaladin, who caught it with an unimpressed look. 

"I'm not a pervert! I just-" Shallan coughed, glaring at Kaladin. "-appreciate good art!" 

Kaladin raised both of his eyebrows before looking at Adolin, who was looking supremely uncomfortable. 

"Well....perverts make people uncomfortable. And that specimen is particularly uncomfortable. So I would say you aren't that off the mark of being a pervert." 

Shallan looked ready to die of mortification and also like she wanted to strangle Kaladin while Adolin laughed gently and pat Shallan's back. 

"Hey, it's not a problem. I guess what he's just saying is, don't spy on people when they're bathing?" Adolin asked, smiling. 

Shallan hugged her knees, blushing. "I'm sorry." She said in a small voice. 

Kaladin rolled his eyes. "Anyways. Business. You thought we were on our way to hassle the nuns?"

Shallan pouted before nodding. "Yeah. I keep a look out for perverts, and if they are perverts, I take care of them. If they aren't, I just follow them and see what they do...though it's strange that you guys sensed me so quickly." She said thoughtfully. 

Adolin smiled at Shallan, who seemed too transfixed to look at it completely. "Well, why don't I talk with Kaladin a bit? You see, we have a request for the Air Temple...but we might need to switch it up a bit, we'll let you know!" 

"Okay." Shallan breathed out, watching Adolin in awe as he moved over to talk to Kaladin. 

"I know what you're about to say and no, I'm not getting taught by that pipsqueak." Kaladin muttered. 

Adolin shook his head, fixing his friend with a serious look. "Kal, I don't know if the Air Nomads will accept our request- they're mostly peace loving and passive. They like to stay out of the world's affairs so they don't get caught up in it. Why not try the first thing we get?" 

Kaladin sighed under the pointed gaze Adolin was giving him. "We don't even know if this girl is well trained-"

Adolin raised an eyebrow. "Normal Air Nomads don't earn those arrows, and you know that as well as I do."

Kaladin made a face, knowing he was beaten. "Fine. We'll ask the girl."

Adolin smiled. "Good. Go on." 

Kaladin inhaled before turning to face Shallan. "How good are you at airbending?"

Shallan snorted. "Mister, I've been airbending since I was two! And that's like, twelve years in total!" 

Kaladin blinked. "You're fourteen?"

Shallan nodded. "Yeah. Why do you ask? The airbending thing I mean?" She asked, suspicious. 

Kaladin sighed, before freezing the fire by bending some water from Adolin's water skin, at which the older yelped, and then crushed his fist, burning the block of ice. 

Adolin put it off with a peeved look on his face, his hand protectively covering his water skin. 

Shallan, for her part, widened her eyes, realization making them shine. "No one can bend more than a single element except for..."

She then stood up, shocked as she pointed her finger at Kaladin, who put stuck his little finger into his ear with a disgruntled expression. 

" _You're the Avatar?!_ " 

Kaladin nodded. "And _Adolin_ here, said you could probably teach me airbending..." He said, smirking when Adolin squawked. 

"Why are you dragging me into this?" Adolin hissed into Kaladin's ear. 

Kaladin smirked wider. "I'm not the one who was, uh, what she'd call it... _good art_." 

(He didn't like the kid. He'd agree with said kid on that part though, it wasn't like he was blind. The Water Tribe noble was exceedingly handsome, after all.)

Adolin groaned before sighing. 

Shallan blushed. "Wait, me? You guys seriously think I can teach airbending?" 

Adolin chuckled uncertainly. "Well, getting those arrows aren't easy, right?" 

Shallan fingered the arrow tattooed on her forehead before chuckling awkwardly. "I guess....so, do you guys really think I could-" 

Kaladin shrugged. "If you want-"

Shallan hugged him tightly, and Kaladin grunted in surprise. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" 

It was Adolin's turn to smirk. 

What made it even more galling was that _Renarin_ too was grinning at him. Kaladin glared at him, but Renarin only snickered into his fist even as he watched over their soup. 

Fine. Kaladin can spare him. Only for the soup. 

"That's settled! I can _totally_ teach you!" Shallan said, letting go of him, letting him come back to the world and grinning brightly. 

Kaladin wheezed. The girl was strong. For someone so scrawny. 

"Uh, sure."

"Guys, you want soup?" Renarin asked, before blinking at the trio's blind rushes to the soup bowls, and then rolling his eyes.

Adolin slurped his soup before looking awkwardly at Renarin. 

Renarin noticed his brother looking at him, wincing. "Uh, Brother?"

Adolin sighed. "I forgive you- _only_ because you make good soup." He said, pointing a finger, making Renarin smile gratefully.

Kaladin rolled his eyes while Shallan kept on drinking her soup, watching the scene in confusion. 

Renarin dug his chin into the gap between his knees, hiding his smile. "Thank you." 

"Yeah, whatever." Adolin said gruffly, but his eyes shone with fondness, and he went back to slurping his soup. 

"They're brothers?" Shallan asked to Kaladin, blinking. 

Kaladin nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Hey, Renarin, great soup." 

Shallan nodded vigorously. "It's amazing! Thank you!"

Renarin chuckled. "No problem, guys." 

And that day, warmth was in abundance, as new bonds were forged between a group of young people, even when the shadow of war loomed behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! But not all is well....anyways, feel free to leave comments if you liked the chapter and the fic or anything about this fic!


	7. Halfway Decent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

"You sure it's okay with the other Air Nomads if you just...drop off all responsibilities and train the Avatar?" Kaladin asked that night, skeptical. 

Shallan chuckled sheepishly. "Well..." she then sobered up, sighing. 

"We knew that the Avatar returned. But we, my sisters," Shallan's expression grew grave. 

"Thought that since the Southern Water Tribe is all but annihilated, the Fire Nation colonies as well, as they opposed the Fire Nation, they didn't want to have anything to do with the Avatar." Shallan said, hands on her lap as she looked at the others in worry. 

A cold breeze flew past them, despite the fire Renarin had made. 

"Are you saying that they're...siding with the Fire Nation?" Adolin asked carefully, raising an eyebrow, eyeing Kaladin in worry. 

The young Avatar's fists had clenched and he was looking at Shallan intently- _too_ intently, Adolin thought with a subtle grimace. 

It was never comfortable to be on the receiving end of that gaze, and Adolin placed a hand on Kaladin's shoulder, shaking his head subtly. 

"Hear her out." Adolin said softly, and Kaladin sighed. 

Renarin only stared at the scene in flabbergasted wonder, before exchanging a disgruntled look with Shallan. 

Shallan sighed before continuing. "It's complicated, Adolin. It's not as easy as that. The Air Nation doesn't want its culture to die out. Or to be well, on the receiving end of the Fire Nation." She said, grimacing. 

Kaladin grit his jaw, and Adolin groaned softly, taking his hand away. 

"But they can't just- sit back and do _nothing_ ," Kaladin grit out, furious. 

Shallan shrugged, though she was clearly a little scared, if the way her face had paled was any indication. She then swallowed, her face regaining a little color. 

"Airbending is about taking the past of least resistance. This is, basically, it." Shallan said, looking helpless. 

"Yeah, but when you're letting people get killed while you can do something about it, it's basically the same as being a murderer." Kaladin growled out, folding his arms and breathing a little faster. 

"Kaladin." Adolin warned, but alas. 

"You think I want to stand back and let the world die?" Shallan asked, voice perfectly calm. 

Adolin palmed his face. It seemed that in the span of a few hours, Avatar or not, Shallan was not ready to deal with Kaladin in a mood. 

Tui and La, save him, already. 

"Not you-" 

"You think my sisters and brothers like it that they have to stand by while innocent people are getting slaughtered left and right?" Shallan went on, eyes narrowed. 

"Well, standing by isn't exactly _difficult_ , is it?" Kaladin shot back, and Shallan inhaled sharply. 

"Maybe so, but understand, not _everyone's_ got a choice-" 

"Everyone has a choice! It's up to them to take it-"

"Yeah, maybe some people just don't want to get caught up in war-" 

"Anyone who has the luxury of choosing not to get caught up in war-" 

"Oh, so standing by is a luxury, now, huh-" Shallan started, looking furious. 

" _Enough!_ " Adolin snarled, before bending water out of his water skin and causing the water to freeze Kaladin's and Shallan's mouths, making them stare at him in surprised horror. 

Renarin bit on his lip, not sure whether to laugh or run away. 

"It's not very cold, but it can make your mouths numb for another hour or two. Which is _exactly_ what you deserve, for behaving like children!" Adolin scolded, glaring at the duo. 

Shallan squeaked while Kaladin grunted indignantly. 

"You behave like children, you're going to get treated like children!" Adolin said, before bending the ice out of their mouths.

"Since when did _you_ become the adult?" Kaladin asked with great difficulty, peeved. 

Adolin gave him an unimpressed look. "Since _I_ became the adult, smarty pants. Which is how far this situation has derailed-" he ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. 

"Tui and La save a man when he has to step up and be the responsible one." Adolin muttered. 

"Technically, Kaladin and I count as adults." Renarin said, shrugging. 

Adolin raised his eyebrows. "Have you two ever paid for anything out of your own pockets?" 

The duo shook their heads, sharing amazed looks. 

"Thought so. Now everybody shut up. Shallan, you were saying?" 

Shallan fiddled with her clothes before talking. "Yeah. The Air Nomads aren't willing to participate because they know what the Fire Nation is capable of. But...I could join you guys. It's not like I found everything I was looking for with them anyway." She said, smile determined. 

"And what are you looking for?" Renarin asked, blinking and looking at her with interest. 

Shallan laughed slightly. "I don't know. But have you ever guys got this...feeling, that you should get out and do more? I feel like that. I wanna get out and do more. Something useful." She said, sobering up and looking at everyone with the same amount of determination. 

Adolin smiled. "That, we can concur with. But on a more important topic...what about Ba Sing Se?' 

Shallan winced. "Oh. Ba Sing Se." 

Kaladin raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shallan grimaced. "Well- we got a new king, Taravangian. Right now, he's enlisting the help of the Skywalkers for law enforcement. And those guys are maniacs." She said, shuddering. 

"The who, now?" Adolin asked, and Kaladin sighed. 

"That may be...my doing. Though strictly speaking, that's not the case. The Skywalkers are the police force of the Earth Kingdom, founded by Avatar Nale. The reason you haven't heard of them till now was probably because he ordered them to lay low." Kaladin said, folding his arms. 

Renarin blinked. "What did they do for you to ask them to lay low?" 

Kaladin ran a hand through his hair, grimacing as the memories assaulted him. "They were fanatics. A cult, and Nale hated them. But then he thought that their energy could be used for law enforcement, but he was scared that they'd go too far, so he bound them with laws of their own. Like Shallan said, they are maniacs." He said, shuddering in turn. 

"That and they keep hunting for fake Avatars." Shallan said, with a comical look of distaste. 

Adolin bit on his lip, clutching his stomach and started shaking. "Fake _what_ now?" Adolin asked, voice high. 

Kaladin glared at him. "Shut up, it's not funny."

Adolin burst out laughing. "To _you_ , maybe! Fake... _Avatars!"_ He said in an even higher voice, rolling on his side and snorting with laughter. 

Renarin snickered. "It _is_ kinda funny."

Shallan snorted. "It isn't when you find out they get executed for lying." She said, shaking her head. 

Adolin and Renarin immediately sobered up,

"Spirits, _what_?" Adolin asked, blinking. 

Shallan nodded. "They have a headquarters and everything. They execute the guilty in there, publicly. Badgers pray you don't, I don't know, drink under the age of seventeen or whatever, otherwise you'll get quartered." She said, face pale. 

"The actual _hell_?" Kaladin asked, gaping. 

"Yeah. Super specific punishments for everything." Shallan said, gulping. 

Kaladin wrinkled his nose, grimacing. "Yikes. Someone's gotta stop them." 

"It's not that easy. They're just doing their job....exaggeratedly. You can't stop them from enforcing the law, it'll cause international rifts. Huger than normal." Renarin said, skeptically.

Adolin pursed his lips, leaning back on his palms and blowing air. "True. I mean, you are the Avatar, and they'll obey you. But still, Shallan's mentioned they're working under King...Taravangian, was it?" Shallan nodded and Adolin continued, eyes contemplative. "It'll be like undermining his authority-"

"Which is what the Fire Nation's been doing." Kaladin finished, nodding in agreement. 

"Exactly. But that's not our priority. Shallan has to teach Kaladin airbending." Adolin said, looking at Shallan. 

Shallan waved a hand. "Consider it done. We start tomorrow morning!" She said, pointing at Kaladin. 

Kaladin suddenly felt like someone lowered him into his grave, but brushed off the feeling. 

* * *

"The first thing you have to have a grasp on, is meditation. Why? Because you need to learn to _let go,_ to learn how to be free." Shallan said seriously, while yawning. 

Kaladin didn't blame her for yawning- the sun had barely risen and the morning was rife with the sound of crickets, creatures scraping the ground, leaves fluttering in the wind and Adolin's snoring. 

Not that Adolin snored loudly...but still. 

"All right." Kaladin said, closing his eyes. 

"You're going to do that till the sun rises." Shallan said sweetly, patting his head. 

Kaladin opened his eyes in shock, and Shallan grinned, tutting. 

"Nope! Close your eyes, Avatar Brooding Eyes!"

"Breathe. Breathe in, feel the air around all you, and let go, Kaladin. Let go of what has been bothering you, the conflict in you," Shallan was murmuring, and Kaladin tried.

He really did. 

Try as he might, the doubts did not escape from his mind. 

_Have I embarked on a fool's quest?_

Water gently rushed past. 

_Am I really the Avatar worthy of clearing up this mess? This whole mess?_

Adolin was breathing calmly. 

_What if I can't do it? What if the Avatar after me has to pay for my inability?_

"Just breathe, Kaladin. Empty your mind. Stop thinking."

_Can I really do what has been asked of me?_

Renarin's heartbeat was steady. Nothing like the furious rhythm that had accompanied his anger at a neglectful, abusive father. 

_Can I fix all this?_

Shallan's voice was gentle, like the snow falling in the Northern Water Tribe. 

_Why can't I save everyone? I should be able to..._

A sparrowkeet was singing. 

_You can't save them all, Kaladin._

_Why didn't I leave sooner? Why did it take Adolin's words, Adolin's strength, for me to get out of that fortress?_

_Even though so many people were dying and shedding tears-_

_If I can't walk out of a prison without someone's help...how worthy of being the Avatar am I?_

" _Kaladin_!" Shallan said sharply, her voice high with alarm. 

"Open your eyes!" Shallan said, hand on his shoulder instantly. 

Kaladin opened them, surprised to find that some round lights had blocked his vision, before blinking his eyes repeatedly. 

"What happened?" Shallan asked softly, kneeling down next to him. 

"What do you mean?" Kaladin asked, voice hoarse. 

Shallan wiped his cheeks, eyes wide and filled with sadness. "What happened?" She asked, in a hushed voice. 

Kaladin stared at her fingers, glistening with his tears, and swallowed a lump. "I don't know." He said honestly, swallowing again. 

"You were thinking." She said, simply, not accusatory, as she deserved to. 

"I'm sorry." Kaladin said, biting on his lip. 

"No. Something heavy is in your mind. Something you can't let go of. You'll have to start now, to let go of it. Otherwise, airbending is going to be difficult. That and...I'm worried, Kaladin." Shallan then smiled awkwardly. "Annoying or not, I still think there's something about you...maybe that urge in you to help other people, which will, well...ah, I'm as eloquent as a beetle at the moment." She said, waving a hand. 

Kaladin shook his head, hating himself for the apathy in him. "Whatever it is, take your time." 

Shallan smiled, looking at him. "Kaladin, you have that impossible urge to help other people. I think that's what makes you a great Avatar already." She says, gently. 

Kaladin felt ashamed, and looked away. 

"Kaladin?"

"I'm...I'm not as great as you think. I'm not even a halfway decent Avatar- do you know how I got here?" Kaladin asked, spitting the words out. 

He didn't see Shallan's expression and continued. "I got here, because _Adolin_ told me to get out of the Fire Nation- and..."

"Sometimes, when you meet any sort of resistance, it's better to have someone else with you. You didn't refuse him, now, did you?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's okay. It's okay, Kaladin. It's _okay to be scared._ " Shallan said, hugging him. 

The words did not help alleviate the guilt, the guilt he would forevermore feel, but knowing that someone knew he was scared.....Like Evi had, knowing that he wasn't truly a monster for hiding away, that he had been frightened...

Admitting that helped him feel a lot better. 

"That's the second time you did that. Hugging me, I mean. Do you just do that or..."

"Well, someone as grumpy as you needs all the hugs they can get, and I'm more than happy to do my supreme job of spreading brightness and joy everywhere."

"And who assigned you that job, exactly?"

"The Supreme Authority of Job Assignment- Shallan Davar, that would be, myself." Shallan said, and Kaladin couldn't help but laugh. 

"All right, the sun's out now, and you have to try meditating again." Shallan said, briskly, letting go. 

Kaladin breathed in. "Got it." 

* * *

"He's been meditating for more than an hour...shouldn't he have breakfast?" Adolin asked, raising an eyebrow in concern. 

Shallan waved a hand. "Going hungry will help. More the problems, more the tackling. Besides, it'll give him a better appreciation of the food and he'll eat it better." 

Adolin chuckled. "You seemed to have thought of this a lot. Nice!"

Shallan blushed. "Uh, thanks, Adolin." 

"Brother, turn off the charms. Otherwise, you might end up turning off her brain." Renarin said simply, eating his banana. 

Shallan blushed even more, hiding her face behind a wooden bowl before glaring at Renarin, and Adolin stared at his younger brother. 

"When did you even have the audacity-"

Renarin gave his brother an unimpressed look. "I haven't been dealing with your theatrics for a very long time. Hence, I'm not really bothered by them. You're free to throw all the tantrums you want."

"I do not throw tantrums." 

"And yet, somehow, when I borrowed your dragon plush-"

"You _stole_ it, you little fireball!" Adolin said indignantly.

" _And_ I put it back by your bed the next night." Renarin said, raising an eyebrow.

"After we found it under your bed." 

Shallan was watching the whole scene with a smile on her face- it was nostalgic and wistful, and she breathed out, smiling wider. 

Renarin noticed her expression, worried. "Shallan?"

Shallan blinked and then shook her head, waving a hand. "It's nothing."

"You learned Kaladin's language of 'Horrible Attempts at Lying' that easily?" Adolin asked dryly, slurping away on his soup.

Shallan went pink. "Uh...well, my parents shipped me off to the Air Temple. I don't remember much, but I remember my brothers quarreling like you guys do." She smiled, eyes misting over with memories of a faraway time. "I don't remember their faces, but I remember the sounds of their laughter." 

"They shipped you off?" Adolin asked sharply, raising an eyebrow. 

Shallan hugged her knees. "Well, I learned airbending late...that and I'm not sure my parents liked my airbending very much. It's rare for a girl in the Earth Kingdom to be able to airbend." She said, and suddenly felt Adolin's comforting hand on her shoulder. 

His eyes said a whole story in that moment, a story in response to what she had said, and Shallan bit on her lip, smiling as tears threatened to spill out from her eyes. 

She knew she was unwanted by her parents- Sister Ellista had said as much, and had been the only airbender who had the sense of not hiding the truth from a child. 

She looked up into Adolin's eyes in awe, and suddenly, she felt warm. 

Something rumbled, and the three of them got startled, sitting up straight.

"Earthquake?" Renarin asked, eyes darting around quickly. 

"No." Adolin said, in the driest voice imaginable. 

"Then?" Shallan asked, eyes wide. 

Adolin pointed at Kaladin, who was looking pale yet peaceful, and then the sound came again from Kaladin's direction and the three looked at each other. 

"Give the idiot some food. If left alone, he'll run on the nonexistent energy of the freaking universe." Adolin said sufferingly, rubbing his forehead. 

Shallan giggled nervously. "Probably should not have made him meditate for three hours straight, huh." 

"You think so?" Renarin asked, and received a plum to the forehead from Shallan for his troubles. 

* * *

"I wasn't _that_ hungry." Kaladin protested as Adolin shoved a bowl of soup into his arms. 

"Not that hungry my foot, we thought there was an earthquake or landslide somewhere." Adolin snapped, while Kaladin took tiny sips from the soup, as if he were some sort of feline lapping away at milk. 

"I was actually getting on great." Kaladin grumbled.

"Yeah. Until you faint of exhaustion." Shallan said, shaking her head. 

"I could feel the wind and everything!" 

"Kaladin, you got to eat."

Kaladin sighed, before slurping his soup. 

* * *

"...An obstacle course?"

Shallan nodded, while Adolin and Renarin stared at the elaborate obstacle course in front of them. 

Kaladin looked at Shallan suspiciously, but the latter shook her head. 

"It's a thing. Go ahead. Do it. Remember- don't emulate a bull more than you already have (Kaladin's eyes narrowed at that). You just gotta avoid." Shallan said, waving a hand. 

Kaladin bit on his lip, staring at the obstacle course Shallan had devised in the course of two hours while having pushed him to sleep. 

She had enlisted Adolin's help in creating obstacles- there was an ice ramp with lots of blocks from start to finish, a rope from one branch of a tree to the branch of a tree some twenty trees away and a huge iced wall. 

"Wow."

"Us airbenders have to go through something like this. Thank the sky bison for Adolin." 

Kaladin turned back to look at Adolin who gave him a thumbs up with a grin while Renarin smiled encouragingly. 

"Thanks." Kaladin said, surprised but gratified, and then looked at the course, gritting his jaw. 

"No fighting or eliminating the obstacles! You gotta avoid them! Develop those reflexes! You get me?"

Kaladin stared at Shallan who only rubbed the back of her head with a grin. 

"Not really cool, huh."

"Absolutely not."

"Anyways. Ready, set, go!" 

"Okay then." Kaladin said, stretching his arms forward and flexing his arms to get ready.

Renarin gave his brother a dubious look.

"What?" Adolin asked, not taking his eyes away from what he obviously considered a very erotic sight, if the way his eyes were glazed over and his cheeks were red were any indications. 

Renarin slowly shook his head, choosing not to comment.

* * *

"You did it at the end, didn't you?" Shallan asked, yawning. 

Adolin and Renarin had started eating dinner five minutes ago and were staring at Kaladin, who was flat on the ground on his back, panting heavily with his arms and legs and spread out. 

"Yeah, I guess. Who knew running up ice was tough?"

Shallan stroked her chin. "I'm a genius. I mean, you only accidentally destroyed three feet off that wall, but you got it on the third try." 

"Ha ha. But," A genuinely exhilarated grin spread itself across Kaladin's face. 

"It was actually fun!" He said with a laugh, and Shallan shook her head with a grin. 

"I've heard the obstacle course being called many things, but not fun. Huh, always the time to learn new opinions and all that! Anyways, you'll be ready for actual techniques tomorrow, I'm thinking...we don't have much time, right?" Shallan asked, looking at Adolin. 

Adolin pursed his lips. "Well, assuming the Skybreakers don't kill us for anything, or my relatives busting the Earth Kingdom in search of us, we should have time. Helping him master the elements is important- Renarin and I'll take care of any distractions." 

Renarin nodded. "Yeah." 

Shallan smiled in relief. "Okay then. Now, hand me some of that curry!" She said, making a beeline for the bowl. 

Kaladin got up, and crawled his way to the fire, swiping a bowl and pouring curry into it. 

"You're not bad- for a scrawny airbender." Kaladin said, smiling at Shallan. 

Shallan laughed. "You're not bad...for a smelly bison."

Kaladin blinked, before sniffing his arm, and then narrowing his eyes while Shallan laughed even further. He then sighed, before quietly chuckling. 


	8. Breaking In

It took them only two days to not get into trouble, which Kaladin finds is very impressive considering _he's_ the Avatar- the source of _all_ trouble, Adolin is a banished prince slash waterbender with no compunctions stopping him from murder, Renarin is a trouble making firebender who hates anything that disturbs his brother and just as murderous (as Kaladin had the misfortune to find out) and Shallan...

Shallan is her own brand of trouble, anyway. 

* * *

The trouble starts when they move three hills away from the Air Temple for allowing Kaladin to practice how to control the wind- and it's now apparently taken over by the Skybreakers. 

Kaladin does not like the look of them, and the memories of Nale flow into his mind, remembering how they all but fell on his feet and the feeling of disgust that followed. 

"Is this a new development?" Kaladin asks in a low voice, as he notices the Skybreakers surround the temple, wearing dark green militaristic uniforms and masks. 

Shallan widens her eyes, inhaling sharply. "That's _definitely_ a new development. What's happened?" She asks, hand to mouth. 

Adolin purses his lips. "Nothing good, I'd wager...why do I feel like this is connected to us?"

Renarin grimaces. "The Air Nomads _can_ take care of them, right?"

Kaladin winced while Shallan bit on her lip. "I'm not sure about that. They won't take any casualties," Shallan nodded vigorously and he continued, "-which is bad for us. Someone should take a look at what's happening, because either way the Skybreakers'll have to go through this valley if they have to return, and if they ask us questions, it won't be good." 

Adolin raised an eyebrow. "We have the very much real Avatar here- I don't think we'll run into any problems." 

Kaladin winces. "Avatar or not, Nale's told them to follow only the law. Nothing is above the law in their code, not even the Avatar." 

Adolin's blue eyes darken, and looking into them is like looking into a stormy sea. "I'm starting to not like Avatar Nale." 

Renarin huffed. "Nale is _still_ Kaladin, isn't he?"

Kaladin snorts. Shallan, despite her fear, is fascinated at this discussion of Kaladin's identity and is listening intently. 

"Yeah, but doesn't mean you can call me Nale. I'm a different person with the same soul." 

"Technically speaking, how is that a different person even though the soul is same?" Adolin asks, wrinkling his nose. 

Kaladin raised his hands. "Don't look at me, I don't know how it works either- I mean, Avatar Shalash was Avatar Jezrien's daughter-"

Shallan widens her eyes and they're bright with fascination. "So wait, he just died the second she was formed in her mother's womb?" 

Adolin choked. " _Wait_ a minute, did Avatar Jezrien seriously die the second-"

Renarin stroked his chin, watching intently. "Then in that case, the poor woman was probably raising her own husband from well, again..." 

Kaladin went green. "I'd rather not think about that at all." 

Shallan tapped her chin, stroking it. "Well, scientifically speaking, Avatar Jezrien would have died post fertilization-"

 _"Can we stop_?!" Kaladin snaps, face red with embarrassment, and a nearby bush is set ablaze. 

Adolin just rolls his eyes before bending water from his water skin with a flourish and relieving the poor bush of its misery. The bush drooped gratefully, and Renarin and Shallan stare at the bush before edging a few steps away from Kaladin. 

"You _wanna_ bring the Skybreakers out here?" Adolin asked, dryly. 

"Whatever." Kaladin said, folding his arms, before looking at the temple seriously. 

"Shallan's right. We got to go and check out what's happening. I've got a bad feeling about this." 

Adolin sighed dramatically but looked around. "Two of us should go-"

"I'll go." Renarin said, automatically and Adolin looked at him in fond exasperation tingled with worry. 

"Fine and I-" 

"I'll go." Shallan said, gulping but nodding. 

"What? Shallan-" 

"I've _got_ to find out what it's for. If I turn out to be the reason, I can... _reason_ it out with them, right?" She asked, pasting on a smile. 

"Absolutely _not_ , we're not letting you kids go out by yourselves-" Adolin said testily, eye twitching. 

"I'm Kaladin's age." Renarin said dryly, and Kaladin raised his hands. 

"Leave me out of this." 

"Renarin and I can handle this! Please, can we go?" Shallan pleaded, desperate.

Adolin sighed. "Fine. But if you guys don't come back in two minutes we'll-"

But Shallan had already shot off on using a glider that had come out of absolutely nowhere and Renarin had followed, propelling himself with bursts of fire on his feet. 

* * *

Renarin followed Shallan, noting how she was frantically shaking. 

He didn't know what to reassure her with, because the situation was bad. There wasn't anything to get around that. 

He winced, hearing screams and shouts of battle from the Air Temple, and would have admired how it was built if he had time to investigate, but it was currently on its way on becoming a smoking ruin. 

Shallan landed gracefully, air swirling around her in bursts as she did so, and looked at the temple, eyes wide as she ran off. 

Renarin followed, swallowing down his dread. 

"Shallan, do you think you can just ask?" He asked her, worried. 

Shallan looked confused for a moment before biting on her lip, understanding. "I don't think so. The Skybreakers are ruthless- our only hope is Sister Ellista, and she'll be up there. Can you get on top of the glider?" 

"Will I fit?" Renarin asked, with good reason, but Shallan looked severely testy and panicky so he just shut his mouth as she prepared the glider again. 

Renarin got on the glider while Shallan flew, clinging on to the edges uncomfortably, and Renarin had to say this much- it wasn't terribly so much of him being a fit as the glider being a fit for this in general. They looked from the top, and Renarin widened his eyes as smoke blew into his eyes, and judging by the way Shallan furiously coughed, it was bad for her end too. 

"They're setting fire to the temple. Why?" Renarin asked, and Shallan swallowed. 

"I see Sister Ellista down there- she should be able to tell us why." Shallan said, swooping down with a _speed,_ that caused Renarin's stomach to lurch. 

They broke into a window, and Renarin somehow didn't bleed from the broken glass. That wasn't bad. 

Shallan landed, and Renarin slid off the glider, landing on his stomach before getting up and coughing. 

He then looked at Shallan. "I can bend the heat out of the air and you could help change it." He said, and Shallan widened her eyes, which brightened for the first time and she nodded gratefully. 

"All right!" She said, smiling tremulously. 

* * *

Somehow, Ellista thought with bemusement, the smoke was clearing. 

At least the books were all right- she didn't know what she would do if the books had gotten burnt. 

Silly Skybreakers, burning the temple just because the king had somehow gotten it into his head that the Fire Nation sent the very much real Avatar over here. 

Nonsense! If there really was an Avatar, he would have been trying to do everything he could to break them out of this mess- or perhaps he was, if the news from the Northern Water Tribe was any indication. 

Either way, Ellista would only believe in that ghost tale if-

Ellista widened her eyes as little Shallan Davar ran into the room with a rather handsome young man behind her, and she stared at them. 

"Shallan?" 

Shallan hugged Ellista, and suddenly her own robes were becoming wet. She looked at Shallan only to see that the child was shaking and she could hear her stifling muffled crying noises-

Oh, the poor girl was crying, Ellista thought in horror, hugging the child back. 

"Sister Ellista!" Shallan sobbed out, and Ellista pat the girl's back. 

"Shallan, dear, don't cry. There's already a rather minor inconvenience going around as it is." 

The young man raised an eyebrow. "I suppose smoke is inconvenient." 

Shallan let go, shaking her head. "What happened?"

Ellista sighed. "We don't know, suddenly the Skybreakers...started breaking in," Shallan didn't smile. Drat. It was a rather good joke too! The poor child must have been really distressed, and for what, Ellista didn't know. "Saying that we were hiding the real Avatar in here and that King Taravangian wanted to see him. When we said we didn't have him, they just screamed at us for lying and set fire to the temple." 

Shallan and the young man shared an aghast look. 

"Kaladin's not gonna be happy about this, is he?" The young man said, grimacing. 

Shallan gulped. "Yikes! But what does King Taravangian want with him?"

Ellista threw up her hands. "By the sky bison, I have no idea! But if the rumors are true, then they're probably going to use the Avatar to annihilate the Fire Nation...needlessly destroying everything like spoiled children."

Shallan and the young man exchanged yet another look. 

"We need to stop the Skybreakers." The young man said, and Shallan gulped. 

"Just us two?" 

The young man shrugged. "Why not? There aren't many, right?"

Ellista blinked. "No, just four to five but all of them are firebenders and earthbenders and the pacifist policy isn't really working with them-"

"Not a problem." 

* * *

"That's it, we're going in there." Adolin said, but just as he got up, a masked figure in dark green militaristic uniform approached them. 

"We'll need to get past that company, I'm thinking." Kaladin said grimly, and Adolin growled. 

"I'm not letting that stop me. That's my _brother_ in there!" Adolin snarled, bending a spiral of water from his water skin with a wave of his hand, and firing it at the figure, palm first, making said figure grunt and fall a few steps behind. 

"We know you're a Skybreaker, you bleeding hog boar! What are you planning on doing with the Air Temple?!" Adolin hissed, running up to the figure and grabbing the collar. 

The Skybreaker simply shoved Adolin aside. "You're Prince Adolin Kholin of the Fire Nation-" He began, in a strong male voice and Kaladin only shook his head in pity, knowing that the Skybreaker's corpse was probably going to end up in a bush somewhere, for that remark. 

"I'm Adolin of the Northern Water Tribe, you _meddler_ , and I'm asking you a question-" 

"Adolin, stand down. You. Whose orders are you following?" Kaladin called out, and Adolin only glared at him for a few seconds.

Kaladin met Adolin's glare evenly. _We're not getting anywhere by murdering the guy. Lay off._

Adolin huffed, eyes still narrowed. _Fine._

"King Taravangian, intruder. Who are you and what are you doing with a known citizen of the Fire Nation?" 

Kaladin smiled, before punching the ground and causing a trail of fire that extended to the Skybreaker's boot, and the fire transformed into ice, instantly freezing _both_ of the man's boots to the ground.

"Show off," Adolin muttered, folding his arms. 

"You better start answering our questions right now." Kaladin said softly, walking up to the Skybreaker and catching his collar in turn, bending the ice out of his feet with a wave of his free hand. 

"T-The Avatar?" The Skybreaker breathed out. 

"He's very much real. Start talking. What the hell are you doing here, and why are you burning up the Air Temple?" Kaladin asked, in a low voice. 

"L-Lord Avatar, K-King Taravangian asked us to-"

And suddenly, Kaladin felt himself drowning under a splurge of raw _fury_. 

* * *

They got themselves captured, Shallan thought in anger, because Renarin had to be a bleeding hero. 

Oh, they fought and managed to subdue the Skybreakers, but they hadn't accounted for backup. 

By the time they could call Kaladin and Adolin, well. They had been tied up, and strapped to the back of a cart heading for execution. 

"Great job." Shallan grumbled, glaring at Renarin. 

Renarin didn't respond and instead kept his head low. Good, Shallan thought vindictively, he wasn't supposed to talk. 

It was his fault they were in this mess anyway. They could have called Kaladin and Adolin, but no, Renarin had to do it himself! 

And they were gonna get killed. 

"We're gonna get _killed_. Thanks for that." Shallan went on rudely, kicking the air. 

"I'm sorry." Renarin said softly, and Shallan glared at him. 

"You better be. I told you we should call the others, but somehow, you just had to be a bleeding hero about it all, didn't you?"

"That wasn't what I wanted." Renarin said, sounding hurt and Shallan raised an eyebrow. 

"Then?" Shallan hissed, narrowing her eyes. 

"I just thought I could do it." 

"That's just what I said." Shallan sniped, coldly. 

"No. That I couldn't be useless again."

Shallan pursed her lips, sighing. Something in her called out to that statement, as the memories of struggling with airbending assaulted her, receiving the looks of disappointed masters, and try as she might, she could not stay angry with Renarin for having got them into this mess. 

"Yeah, but...it's not wrong to do something with help, you know." Shallan said, trying to be more civil. 

And more than that, Shallan thought guiltily, Renarin was a _comrade_ , in this whole quest.

She did join Kaladin, didn't she? She was his airbending master, and she had been about to see his quest to the end, right? 

Snapping at Renarin wasn't probably the best move, and since they were gonna be executed, they couldn't spend their last hours being uncivil to each other. 

"And I'm sorry, for being mean to you." Shallan continued, in a smaller voice. 

Renarin smiled wryly. "I definitely deserved that. You were right." 

Shallan bit on her lip. "Still. You're a friend. And you made good soup for me. So I shouldn't yell at you for doing the right thing." 

"Trying." Renarin said, and Shallan blinked, confused. 

"Trying, to do the right thing. And failed." Renarin continued, bending his head low. 

Shallan felt his gloom. Was this what sacrifices meant? Were they being sacrificed for having done the right thing? 

_This,_ Shallan realized with a heavy heart, _is what war probably means. This despair, this feeling of helplessness..._

Nausea pooled in her stomach, and she fought back tears, before feeling a warm weight at her side. 

Renarin had scooted closer. "Being close kind of helps lessen the pain a little. I'm sorry, Shallan. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You're right about that." Shallan said, smiling softly. 

Renarin smiled back, but his eyes were haunted, and Shallan rested her head on his shoulder. 

* * *

Adolin's eyes were wide as he saw the sight unfolding in front of him. 

Kaladin's eyes glowed a threatening white, and wind and energy were spreading around him, leaving Adolin feeling debilitated and awe at the power of the being before him. 

" ** _This is not what I founded the Skybreakers for, to follow some old fool at the throne. You disappoint me_**." Kaladin spoke out calmly, his voice now no longer his and calm yet filled with anger. 

_Avatar Nale,_ Adolin realized, swallowing. 

"A-Avatar Nale? Is it truly you?"

 _ **"Yes, ignorant fool. This boy and I are one and the same. I sense that most of your comrades have retreated after having carried out an unprovoked assault on the Air Temple. Why is this so?"**_ Not-Kaladin asked, his very bearing now contemptuous and crisp. 

Adolin looked at the Air Temple, eyes wide as he realized that the Air Temple was now surrounded by flying airbenders who were fixing the temple, and that...

"Shallan. And Renarin." Adolin whispered, ice slipping down his spine as his hands started shaking.

Those two weren't running up to him, and Adolin could feel it- they were missing. 

Oh, Renarin, what happened to him? And Shallan?

 _They were only_ _children,_ Adolin thought in despair.

The Skybreaker visibly gulped. "My Lord, we have received news from the Northern Water Tribe that they had fended off an attack from the Fire Nation with the help of the Avatar. King Taravangian wished for your aid in annihilating the Fire Nation and believed that the Air Temple was hiding you.."

_Annihilate? But the innocents..._

_And Kaladin wouldn't have agreed to something so drastic...._

_**"The Avatar is not a tool. Where are your fellows?"**_ Not-Kaladin growled out, eyes still glowing white as a blue aura now enveloped him.

"My Lord- at your temple!" 

Adolin's memory immediately went to the map of the Earth Kingdom- the Temple of Nale, which was built shortly after his death and prayed to by people facing trouble from criminals and outlaws. 

It was three miles from here, Adolin recalled, swallowing a lump. 

_Oh, Renarin...Shallan..._

_No. Don't think like that, they'll be all right. They have to be._

_**"Very well. It seems that this order requires a disciplining."**_ Not-Kaladin said ominously, and then the aura faded, and Kaladin fell, exhausted. 

Adolin immediately caught him in his arms, and noticed that the younger's eyes were closed. 

The Skybreaker was looking at the whole scene in awe- his mask consisted of a skull with very visible eye slits, and Adolin looked at the man, an idea popping into his head. 

"Hey, do you mind giving your uniform and mask? You're wearing clothes under those, right?" Adolin asked smoothly, while Kaladin stirred blearily.

The Skybreaker blinked, and nodded slowly. 

"Thanks! Run off now- don't try terrorizing people again!" Adolin said, while the Skybreaker just stared at him. 

"But-"

Adolin raised an eyebrow.

The Skybreaker groaned and whimpered, something in between, and tossed his mask at Adolin, who caught it with one hand while Kaladin supported himself against Adolin's chest, gripping on to his shoulder and then standing upright, moving away. 

The Skybreaker was actually a frail looking middle aged man, much to Adolin's surprise, and he then stripped off his uniform, revealing traditional Earth Kingdom clothes, typical of someone in the Lower Ring. 

"Hey, Kal. Put these on. We gotta go to Nale's temple." Adolin said, while taking out a container of face paint from his bag and tossing the mask to Kaladin, who caught it in bemusement.

Kaladin himself only blinked. "The hell just happened? And where did you get _that_?" He said, pointing at the face paint container. 

Adolin smirked at him. "I have my ways. And besides," he sobered up. "Shallan and Renarin are missing for too long. My guess is that the Skybreakers took them to Nale's Temple. Speaking of whom, you just turned into Nale and probably made that guy piss his pants." Adolin said, pointing at the man who was walking away. 

Kaladin stared. " _What_ are you doing?"

"We'll need to be inconspicuous. Besides, I always wanted to put this on anyways, it'll just take a minute. Put that Skybreaker uniform on now, quickly." Adolin ordered, and Kaladin rolled his eyes. 

"Drama hog." Kaladin muttered, before stripping off his shirt, much to Adolin's consternation (it was consternation, consternation _only_ ) and putting on the uniform. 

"What the _hell_? You can just wear it over your clothes, genius." Adolin asked, putting on face paint all the while. 

"It's thick." Kaladin said simply, and Adolin only started shaking his head before finishing putting on the face paint. 

"All right, let's go!"

"On what, foot?"

"It's only three miles from here, besides, Shallan gave you a glider, right? I can follow." 

Kaladin stared at his large blue glider before a wicked glint shone from his eyes, behind the mask. "I have a better idea." 

* * *

" _Did you not have any better ideas?!_ " Adolin shrieked as Kaladin laughed, flying for the Temple of Nale. 

"Well, can't have you being a slow poke. Besides, you're not as heavy as usual." Kaladin said with a grin, looking back at Adolin, who was clinging to dear life on Kaladin's ankles, watching the trees with an air of general dismay. 

"I was never heavy! Also, watch out for that tree, you giant big oaf!" Adolin protested. 

"That's a redundant usage of words. You'd think your education was better than this." Kaladin said, shaking his head mockingly. 

Adolin tightened his grip on Kaladin's ankles, growling under his breath before sighing as he had to concede that the feeling of the wind rushing past him and that the sight of the great land unfurling before him was definitely enjoyable. 

He would have liked to fly under better conditions- not where his breakfast's contents were whining for a release.

Kaladin however seemed practically euphoric; his face broke out in a happy grin as evident from how his eyes were crinkled, they were shining with wonder and amazement and the wind brushed back his hair, making him seem all the more beautiful. 

And by the spirits, Adolin knew he was gone for this guy he was holding on to.

"Might wanna go faster, I feel like vomiting. On second thought, don't." Adolin wheezed out, throat filling with nausea.

Kaladin turned back to give him a deadpan stare. "Lightweight." 

"I will kick you." Adolin warned before gagging. 

Kaladin suddenly stopped, and they were floating in mid air, just like that. 

"Hold on. I think you don't have to complain for much longer." Kaladin said, eyes narrowed at the sight before him. 

The Temple of Nale- a worn, weathered brown structure made of stone. It was simple and austere, but had the classical dome at the center supported by a pillar seen in the shrines dedicated to the Avatars of the past.

"We're here." 

"It's not very big. Did we just strip a guy of his uniform for nothing?"

Kaladin snorted, hiding a smile at Adolin's petulant tone. "The mask might come in handy. And the uniform too. And you never know, that face paint of yours might scare them away too."

"Ha ha, very funny. Now get down already."

* * *

"Move." One of the Skybreakers intoned, in a rough voice, pushing Shallan and Renarin forward. 

Shallan stomped on one man's foot before scuttling forward, laughing nervously. 

Renarin smiled encouragingly at her, and Shallan, emboldened, stomped on another man's foot before scuttling forward again.

The Skybreakers exchanged a look before grumbling in some Earth Kingdom dialect, and then pushing them forward again. 

Renarin then stomped on one Skybreaker's foot, earning himself a rougher shove. 

They then saw the interior of the temple- it was intimidating and not well lit. Moss crawled across the walls in patterns that fascinated Shallan, and the room smelled musty. Nale's idol, placed at the edge of the pillar however, was well preserved, his intimidating figure well shown in bronze- wearing a constable uniform and one leg placed a little farther than the other. His eyes seemed to follow the duo, making them shiver. 

"Can't believe that used to be Kaladin." Shallan muttered, shuddering. 

Renarin blanched.

The Skybreakers then pushed them into the light, revealing a thousand other Skybreakers standing beneath a huge dais behind the pillar along with whimpering criminals who were pleading for mercy. 

Shallan and Renarin turned pale, exchanging a scared look, as they then saw the guillotine placed on the dais. Shallan felt her knees buckling, and her eyes suddenly hurt while Renarin's hands were shaking badly, his face white under the dim light. 

They then saw the corpses of the hanged plastered on the walls, and gulped. 

Many of them were as young as fourteen or fifteen, while others looked like they certainly deserved it. 

"The sky bison be good, we're gonna be on there." Shallan whispered. 

"We did the right thing, Shallan." Renarin said firmly, but his voice was shaking, and his eyes were suspiciously red rimmed. 

Shallan nodded, fighting back tears. 

"Under the eyes of the law, Avatar Nale, you two will be executed on the charges of illegal immigration, prevention of the enforcement of the law, hurting uniformed officers-"

" _And you guys are persecuted for harming children!_ " A familiar deep voice roared. 

Shallan gasped while Renarin turned back in amazement at that voice, seeing Adolin Kholin stand at the entrance, his eyes familiar even under his face paint, two shards of iced steel while water swirled around him his hands as he stood, poised to attack. 

"Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, Renarin, _we're alive!_ " Shallan screamed, tears coming out of her eyes and blurring her vision. 

Renarin suddenly fell to the ground, tears filling his own eyes, and just then as if to make things even better, the ceiling of the temple suddenly broke and out of the the sky fell Kaladin Stormblessed, who landed in a ring of fire and wind, fist and knee on the ground to support his landing. 

"The Skybreakers are in a need of little reforming, I think." Kaladin's voice, though soft, carried out the whole temple as he removed his mask, and Shallan whooped, while Renarin laughed loudly. 

Adolin ran up to them, removing Renarin's and Shallan's ropes, looking at them sternly before sighing. "You kids." He said fondly, carrying them under his arms while Kaladin shouted a loud battle cry and started punching and kicking Skybreakers left and right. 

He dropped them at the temple entrance before hugging the two of them tightly. "Stay safe." He whispered, cradling their foreheads and resting his against theirs with a reassuring smile, ruffling their heads before running back inside. 

Shallan and Renarin, comforted and warmer at Adolin's easy affection, stared at each other with grins before hugging each other. 

"We're alive. We're _alive_." Shallan whispered repeatedly, tears running down her cheeks. 

"I'm sorry." Renarin choked out and Shallan pat his back. 

"Like you said, we're doing the right thing. Next time, just try to wait for help, okay?" Shallan asked, half laughing and half crying. 

"Okay. Okay." Renarin said, half laughing and crying himself. 

* * *

Adolin walked in, taking two swords and joining Kaladin's side. 

"Took you long enough. Are they hurt?" Kaladin murmured, as they stood back to back. 

Adolin nodded, gritting his jaw in fury upon remembering the clearly traumatized faces of the duo. "They'll be okay. Let's give these guys hell."

"After you." Kaladin said, before shooting forward and crushing a man against the wall while Adolin kicked three Skybreakers to the side, slashing two others with a defiant cry before jumping up on a platform, sheathing his swords and bending a column of water, making it rotate before shooting it as an icy blast, freezing some five or six Skybreakers. 

* * *

By the time they had ended, all thousand or so Skybreakers either had second degree burns, or were frozen, or were just simply stabbed in the gut. 

The ones that had ended up unscathed simply surrendered. 

* * *

Renarin and Shallan peeked inside, before gaping. 

Adolin was simply wiping his swords with a merry whistle while Kaladin was talking to a few Skybreakers and some criminals. 

They saw the thousands of bodies littered across the temple and then exchanged a horrified glance. 

"Monsters. Those two are monsters." Shallan whispered, awestruck. 

" _We_ couldn't handle ten people-" Renarin began, dumbstruck.

"These two just stopped _thousands_ of them!" Shallan burst out, knees shaking. 

Adolin looked at Shallan and Renarin in surprise-(he hadn't washed off the face paint yet, it made him look intimidating, Shallan noted with an involuntary shudder), and just blinked at them. 

"What's up?"

Shallan and Renarin exchanged a panicked look before awkwardly laughing and running off, gaping once they were out of earshot. 

"Monsters!" Shallan said, throwing up her hands. 

"They could have killed us at any moment." Renarin said seriously, and Shallan nodded furiously. 

" _Monsters_!" Shallan reiterated, eyes wide.

* * *

"We didn't really _need_ to be inconspicuous, did we? I feel like it just made our entrance dramatic." Kaladin said conversationally, when they had dinner that night. 

Adolin swatted his arm before drinking his soup (thankfully, he had washed away the face paint). "Principle of warfare. Can't always just burst in, you know. Take precautions and get a reason to fight, otherwise you might as well get yourself killed." 

"It's strange to be receiving battle advice from a guy who took a minute to paint his face."

Adolin duly poured the contents of his water skin on Kaladin's head, who gasped and choked, before glaring furiously at Adolin who smiled innocently.

"Why I ought to-" Kaladin growled before tackling Adolin to the ground.

The two stared at each other for a while, Adolin still grinning, cheeks flushed while Kaladin glared down at the offending teenager, breathing heavily. 

Adolin then kneed his stomach, making Kaladin wheeze out before rolling over to the side and running away with laughter while Kaladin chased after him, shouting so many obscenities that Renarin had to close Shallan's ears for a while.

Renarin and Shallan then shared a smile and chuckled- those two might have been the strongest and most talented benders in the world.

But they were still idiots. 

_Their_ idiots.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what up? hit me up if you wanna tell me something nice! constructive criticism also appreciated!!


	9. Gone That Far

"My Lord-"

Kaladin's eye twitched, and he felt that spark of fire travelling down to his fingers and he inhaled and exhaled, stopping it. 

"First off. Don't call me that. My name is Kaladin- if you have to be respectful, just add the Avatar in front of my name. I'm not picky." Kaladin said, staring at the bald headed Skybreaker in front of him. 

Apparently, baldy's name was Szeth. And Szeth, for a lack of a better word, was weird. 

Adolin snorted at his friend's comment even as he wiped his blades. 

Kaladin glared at him, and Adolin just went on whistling. The former sighed before turning back to the Skybreakers. 

"Very well, Avatar. Our orders however, are bound due to this paperwork the good king Taravangian gave us." The bald Skybreaker said, handing over a sheaf of paperwork, and Kaladin stared. 

"You....kidnapped two children, burnt down an Air Temple.....because of paperwork." Kaladin said, staring at Szeth. 

The Skybreaker nodded impassively. 

Kaladin grit his jaw, counting to three and then ripped the paperwork into little shreds, before throwing them and then using a gust of wind to blow them away. 

"New rules. Don't be stupid enough to follow paperwork of all the rubbish. Use your head. _And_ common sense." 

Adolin coughed violently and Kaladin gave him a look. 

Szeth simply nodded, and by Agni did he give Kaladin the heebie-jeebies. 

Kaladin himself hadn't used said term since he was twelve and Adolin had decided to scare him by mimicking a baby story villain named Dashin, the Terrible Fire Lord of all Fire Lords. 

Sadly, that had been the title of said baby story. 

_"You're giving me the heebie-jeebies! Stop! Stop, Adolin, stop!" Kaladin cried out, hiding under his blanket._

_Adolin hadn't stopped laughing, the_ jerk _, Kaladin thought angrily as tears came out of his eyes._

_"Aw, did the widdle little Avatar get scared?" Adolin drawled, taking off the theater mask and grinning at the huddled up figure in the blanket._

_"I didn't get scared of you, I got scared of the Terrible Fire Lord!" Kaladin screamed, head popping out of the blanket to glare at Adolin._

_Adolin's face softened at the child's scared, huddled figure before smiling and walked up to the bed, sitting on it and hugging him._

_"What are you doing?" Kaladin asked peevishly, and Adolin laughed, resting his chin on top of the other's head.  
_

_"It's called a hug, kiddo. You get it when you're scared and you have a friend nearby."_

_Kaladin pouted, but didn't deny that the hug was nice. "Don't scare me like that again." He mumbled, pushing himself back against the older's chest._

_Adolin chuckled. "Sure thing."_

Come to think of it...how long had it been since Adolin hugged him anyway? Two years, give or take? 

And why was this a priority for him all of a sudden? 

Kaladin shook his head, before sighing and resigning himself to talking to this unnerving Skybreaker.

"Yes. Avatar." Szeth simply said, tonelessly. 

Kaladin pinched the bridge of his nose, before looking at a red headed young man, who was failing to hide a grin behind his hand and looked strangely familiar. 

Either way, he had a good feeling about this one. 

"What's your name?" Kaladin asked, pointing to the guy and the guy looked confused for a second before standing straight to attention and answering briskly. 

"Helaran Davar." 

Kaladin blinked. _Davar?_

_"The Supreme Authority of Job Assignment- Shallan Davar, that would be, myself-"_

He frowned, blinking. "Are you related to any...Air Nomad? Tiny, red haired, master of airbending at fourteen?" 

Helaran blinked, before smiling wistfully. "Shallan, you mean? She's my little sister."

Adolin stopped wiping his swords and looked at Helaran with narrowed eyes. 

"Huh. Did you by any chance know that your sister was about to be executed by these miscreants?" Kaladin asked curtly, gesturing at the fallen bodies. 

Helaran's smile turned bitter, and his knuckles were white. "I actively protested against the first fifteen executions, but since none of them had the sense to choose the words of a fellow comrade over a sheath of paperwork, I was out-ruled. I was planning to save Shallan and the other young man myself, but you and your friend came here blazing. Literally." 

Kaladin raised his eyebrows, exchanging a look of surprise with Adolin. 

"Since you're the only one with any common sense, I'm making you the leader of the Skybreakers. Law enforcement is crucial, yes, but doesn't mean you have to go to the extremes about it."

Helaran chuckled. "Couldn't have put it better myself, Avatar Kaladin. Thank you," he said, now looking serious. "I'll do my best to live up to that honor."

Kaladin nodded. "See that you do. Come on, Adolin, let's go."

Adolin shook his head. "I need to talk to Helaran. Could you wait outside with the kids for me?" He said, eyes never having left Helaran. 

Kaladin looked surprised but then nodded. Adolin had sense. Except when his family was threatened, but still. 

* * *

Adolin walked up to Helaran, reaching out a hand to shake it. 

Helaran shook it, looking surprised as Adolin released his hand. "Prince Adolin?"

"I'm not really a prince of anything. Adolin will be fine. I want to talk about your family." Adolin said seriously. 

Helaran licked his lips, nodding. "You want to know why Shallan was airbending at the Air Temple without ever knowing who her family was."

Adolin nodded. "But she knows her family name."

Helaran sighed. "Well, it's like this. Our parents despise benders,"

Adolin raised an eyebrow. "Benders in general?"

Helaran nodded. "Yeah. And when Shallan started airbending, they just dropped her off at the Air Temple. The Skybreakers asked us questions, because they have records of all of the families in Ba Sing Se. And then our mother just told us all at that second that she shipped Shallan off there. Normally, Air Nomads come and check for potential airbenders and take them with the consent of their families, but what our parents did that day...." Helaran hung his head low. 

"They abandoned their own child." Adolin said coldly, trying to abate the anger welling up in him. 

Helaran swallowed. "Nothing can change that. They hated Shallan and they dropped her off at there. I...I asked one of her sisters there, to tell her this, so she...so she'd know. It's better knowing the truth than living under a false fantasy and I have a feeling that falsehoods won't be the best for someone so young."

"No. No. No, they're not." Adolin murmured to himself, softly before looking at Helaran again. 

"Thank you for telling me this."

Helaran's smile was acerbic, bitter and it reminded Adolin of himself. 

It was the smile _he_ put on, Adolin realized, whenever someone asked him if he was all right, and Adolin didn't like being reminded of it. 

"I deserve to. You guys are the ones taking care of her now. Just...be a better brother to her, than I or the others could ever have been. That's all I ask." Helaran said quietly, his words spoken quickly and his eyes pleading. 

Adolin looked away. "We can do that much, without having to be told it." 

Helaran's smile was much more genuine now, and his eyes were suspiciously bright. Moist. 

"Thank you, Adolin." 

Adolin nodded, walking away.

* * *

"Do you _know_ , how worried the two of us were?" Kaladin asked Shallan and Renarin sternly, just before the sun set. 

Lunch had been eaten in stony silence, and this was the first time in three hours that anyone had ever spoken. 

Kaladin and Adolin had agreed on one thing; _We're gonna let those brats squirm for a while._

And did those two squirm satisfyingly. 

Adolin was busy washing his face- while putting on face paint had been easy, it seemed that it had to dry for five hours before it could be washed off. 

(So Kaladin had squirmed a little, because that face paint on Adolin's face had been...strange. There was absolutely no other word ~~_beautiful_~~ for it and that was that.) 

Shallan and Renarin both looked at the ground, looking ashamed. 

"By Agni, do the two of you know how worried _Adolin_ was? Didn't you two think twice before deciding to fight those guys?" 

Renarin then inhaled heavily, and looked up at Kaladin. "It was my fault. I didn't...I didn't think of calling."

Kaladin folded his arms. "And why not? You got to understand, if any one of us were in danger, they have to trust the other three enough to call them for help. What really happened there?"

Shallan then put a hand on Renarin's shoulder, before looking at Kaladin and explaining what happened. 

Kaladin sighed once Shallan was done. "Listen, you two. It's not like I'm belittling you two because you're the youngest or whatever- I'm worried. Dragon wings- Renarin is the same age as I am! But you need to start learning how to gauge a situation before it gets too bad, because this is _war!_ War drives people crazy, no one's going to think twice about killing two children, no one's going to think twice about murder or torture. We all need to be careful. Okay?"

Shallan and Renarin nodded, their eyes haunted but determined and Kaladin sighed, sadness filling in him. 

Adolin should have gotten married to some girl he liked- not following the Avatar on some quest to stop some mundane war. 

Shallan should have been practicing airbending and shouldn't have even come here in the first place. 

Renarin should be with his brother and mother, laughing and doing things to better the world. 

And...Kaladin, well, the Avatar's future was not set in stone. But it never really mattered what Kaladin should have been doing or wanted, anyway. 

"Shallan, you and I are going to the Air Temple tomorrow-"

"But I still haven't finished teaching you yet! Besides," Shallan swallowed. "I'm a part of you guys, right? And wherever we go, like you said, this is war. I'm going to be in danger wherever I go-"

Kaladin raised his hands, smiling slightly. "I know I can't get rid of you, you little menace. We're telling the nuns there that you're coming with us." 

Shallan widened her eyes, before squealing loudly and incoherently. It took three seconds before Kaladin understood what she was saying. 

"Thank you thank you thank you, thank you so much!"

Kaladin blinked, dazed at the speed at which Shallan was screaming words before waving a hand and nodding. 

"Okay...then. Nobody get into any trouble. I need to meditate. You can train me tomorrow after we finish talking to the Air Nomads." 

Shallan grinned. "Hell yes!"

"Aren't monks not supposed to swear?" Renarin asked, a teasing note to his voice.

Shallan stuck her tongue out at him and Renarin chuckled while Adolin returned, raising his eyebrows at Kaladin. 

Kaladin shrugged. _Told them off._

Adolin looked at the duo, who somehow started playing rock, paper and scissors, before sighing. _Kids._

Kaladin rolled his eyes before waving a hand and sitting next to the lake, sitting cross legged, closing his eyes and starting to meditate. 

* * *

Kaladin opened his eyes, looking at the blue, translucent figure of Avatar...

He blinked. He was expecting Avatar Nale, not a tanned, lithe woman wearing a hooded blue robe and smiling at him with familiar brown eyes. 

"Hello." She said softly, sitting opposite him. 

Kaladin blinked, before it hit him. 

"Avatar Vedeledev." 

She smiled, pleased to be recognized and nodded. "Yes. I'm here because Nale felt you needed a softer piece of advice for what was about to come."

Kaladin pursed his lips, nodding. "The world's started to look at the Avatar as a tool, Avatar Vedeledev. This means times are changing and....Avatar Vedeledev, what am I supposed to do?"

"Breathe, Kaladin." Vedeledev said gently. 

Kaladin swallowed and inhaled and exhaled. "Right."

Vedel pursed her lips. "Your thoughts are correct. War has made the world desperate. You'll have to stop the war before the listeners attack, though I strongly suspect that the listeners are tied to this war as well, but in what way, I cannot explain. But that isn't what I'm here for, I'm here to advise you on a more personal note." 

Kaladin blinked. "Really? My personal thoughts aren't as consequential as the world, Avatar Vedeledev." 

Vedel laughed. "Kaladin, you're a person. The one meant to balance this wounded world, yes. But you are _you._ You are still young, and..."

Her eyes fell on Adolin, who was practicing with his sword. 

His forms were perfect, as usual. 

"You have a heart. You can't exactly ignore what it calls for, yes?"

Kaladin bit on his tongue. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." 

Vedel sighed, before lightly hitting his head. He didn't feel anything obviously, but the action of her having done so made him blink. "I'm just saying. The Avatar is born as a human so as to experience all forms of human emotions. Anger. Happiness. Sadness. Joy. Pride." 

She then looked at Adolin. 

"Love." 

Kaladin blanched. "I don't have anything to love."

Vedel raised an eyebrow. "You have friends you can love. Family you can love. You have a man you're willing to give up heart and soul for, because being with him...it heals you."

Kaladin was not liking where this conversation was going. "Can't we talk about something else? Like, I don't know, the Earth Kingdom planning to enslave me or something?"

Vedel gave him a pointed look before sighing. "You're not ready to accept your own feelings yet. Very well, but they will return with a vengeance, young one. And that time, I hope you'll be ready to deal with them." 

Kaladin looked at Adolin this time, who now decided that teaching Pai Sho to Shallan and Renarin would be a perfectly acceptable way of relaxing after sword practice, and something.... _grew_ inside him at the sight. 

At hearing Adolin's genuine laughter, which Kaladin realized with a constricted throat, was absolutely delightful to hear. 

It wasn't the first time he had thought that either, he realized uncomfortably...he remembered thinking how nice Adolin's smiles were, back when he had been still a child and Adolin a young teenager. He always liked it when Adolin slept with him in the same bed, and at the time he thought it was just because...

Because what? Adolin had been the only one in that palace who had been nice to him. The thoughts about Adolin had only crept in, when he had realized how friendly and warm the older was, two years later, and...

He rubbed his forehead, suddenly dizzy and then frowned at Vedel, who rolled her eyes. 

Infernal woman (he didn't care that she was essentially still him). Look what she made him do. 

"Either way. You will have to start asserting your identity as the Avatar, Kaladin. You must take your own decisions and things into your hands, which I believe you did rather excellently with the Skybreakers. Of course, you could have injured less people, but sometimes, a brutal beating is required for punishing the stubborn. Nevertheless, be firm with your own decisions and your own mind. Otherwise, the indecision you have will cost you dear."

Kaladin registered the words with a heavy feeling, nodding. 

"And I firmly believe that love can be very powerful, young one. I'm not saying this with regard to our earlier context, but I am saying this from experience. You'll have to be careful to not let yourself get caught up in it. Love for your family, love for your friends...those are often the motivators for many innocents who fight in this war. Remember that. And farewell." Vedel said, smiling at the end and fading. 

Kaladin sighed.

* * *

"Okay, everybody listen up." 

The other three looked at him, blinking at Kaladin's serious expression. 

Kaladin had finished chasing after Adolin after the bastard had decided to pour water on him, and after wrestling for over an hour while Shallan and Renarin had laughed so hard that the latter had to stop the former from developing breathing problems, they had finally finished their makeshift dinner and were all huddled over a fire. 

"There are some matters we'll need to talk about. First things first, I have to be honest to you about what I'm supposed to do." Kaladin said, exhaling before continuing. 

The three exchanged confused glances. 

"Is there something one of the Avatars said to you?" Adolin asked, sharp as ever. 

Kaladin nodded. "Yeah. The thing is...Adolin, do you remember Ash Island? At the library?"

Adolin rolled his eyes. "Hard to forget. You were freaking out over Avatar Shalash's art work even though you were technically supposed to go to the Spirit Oasis." 

Shallan blinked. "You like art? Since when?"

Adolin snorted. "The guy panicked for no reason and thought he had to find out something from Avatar Shalash saying that our world was in danger, even though he basically had no leads," Adolin then sobered up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "To be fair, I don't think anyone could have been calm upon hearing our world was in serious danger, but Kaladin kind of went all out. Then somehow, he borrowed an art piece from the librarian and for some reason it's relevant today."

Kaladin rolled his eyes. "Thank you for that eloquent explanation, buddy."

Adolin chuckled. "Why, you're welcome."

Kaladin chucked a pebble at him, ignoring Adolin's squawk of protest and continuing. "Well, that _is_ relevant," He took it out from his bag. 

"Here, she said that the Voidbringers were in fact, not to be blamed for invading our world."

Shallan's eyes were wide, and Renarin listened intently, pursing his lips. 

"Because this world that we're living on? It's theirs. Not ours. They also are not called Voidbringers, they're called the listeners. We drove them away from the Spirit World after they taught us bending. Then we drove them away from this world because _we_ wanted that land." Kaladin said quietly, and Shallan gasped, hands to mouth while Renarin froze. Adolin for his part, looked contemplative and seemed to sag lower with exhaustion. 

Kaladin himself couldn't believe it. "We don't know where they're hiding out. But Avatar Talenel sealed them away so they couldn't harm humans. I'm guessing they broke their seal, and started hiding out somewhere. What I do know is that this war is definitely advantageous for them."

"Are you saying they caused this war by playing out from behind the scenes?" Adolin asked, breathing out.

Shallan turned pale while Renarin's jaw clenched. 

Kaladin shuddered imperceptibly, the possibility not even having struck him. "I don't know. But they definitely are connected to it. So I need to stop this war. Quickly." He then inhaled, continuing. 

"For that to happen, I'll have to talk to King Taravangian and stop him from fighting the Fire Nation armies. Then somehow, Elhokar has to be convinced to stop this war. And then, the listeners have to be persuaded to not destroy us and we have to well, give them _some_ place to stay." Kaladin said, leaning against a tree, feeling exhausted at the very utterance of the task given to him. 

"No wonder you broke down," Shallan whispered softly, eyes sympathetic. 

Kaladin looked away, ashamed. "I shouldn't have-"

"And who said that?" 

Kaladin blinked, surprised at Adolin's suddenly harsh voice. 

"Who told you that you can't break down because things are getting too much?" Adolin asked, raising his eyebrows. 

Kaladin clicked his tongue. "Avatars before me have dealt with so much worse-"

"And it was their mistakes that lead you here." Renarin said quietly, and Kaladin felt _stung_.

"This isn't easy, Avatar or not. And you have _us_ to help you with it, you idiot! So, stop taking _that_ on your shoulders and let us help you!" Adolin bit out, glaring at his friend. 

"Definitely. We'll help you. We're in this, Kaladin." Shallan said, face determined. 

"We're doing this or we're dying." Renarin said, and the other three stared at him, crickets chirping. 

Renarin winced, smiling awkwardly. "Too soon?"

Adolin slapped his arm while Shallan sighed theatrically. "You think?" 

Kaladin suddenly smiled, a small smile, yes, but he couldn't help it. 

Those bonds between them, he could see it now, so clearly, and it warmed him in a way he couldn't define. He couldn't see himself without any of those three, he realized and he'd protect them. With everything he had. And they would protect him, too. 

Because they were his family, now. 

"Thanks guys, but no one is dying on my watch." Kaladin said dryly, and Renarin chuckled, while the other two smile.

"I'll bet." Adolin said, eyes dancing, the light of the fire making them more prominent. 

"Yeah. So that's one thing. Next thing, anyone knows how to get inside Ba Sing Se?"

Adolin shrugged. "I'm sure we can get in with no problem. Most of the Skybreakers'll listen to you now-"

Renarin coughed while Shallan muttered something under her breath. 

Kaladin raised an eyebrow at them, making them smile sheepishly at him before he rolled his eyes. He then looked at Adolin. 

"-and the king should listen to you. If not, we'll try to use the Northern Water Tribe's support and the Lightweavers' support too. They've agreed to ally with us, right?"

Kaladin nodded. "Fine. That should do it, I think. Then tomorrow, Shallan and I are just going to the Air Temple-"

"So I can join you guys for real!" Shallan said, excited. 

Kaladin let out a breath of amusement, her excitement contagious, like...Like Tien's had been. There, he said it, and the very thought dimmed any brightness that had welled up in him, and he swallowed. 

_Couldn't I just see Tien? Father? Mother? Just once?_ _Did I have to lose them all? Because of this burden?_

_These guys...I feel good, around them, yeah, but...did I have to lose my family, to meet these wonderful people?_

Kaladin exhaled, swallowing again. 

_Can't I ever see them again? How can I see my parents after...After I failed to protect Tien?_

He felt Adolin's knowing eyes on him, even as Shallan was excitedly blabbing away about how she was going to really join them with all her possessions and all, and how she'd finally be able to sketch again, and Kaladin shrunk back, wishing Adolin would just...

Would just stop _caring_ so much about him. Why couldn't Adolin care about someone else, for a change? 

He didn't deserve it. Adolin deserved to care about someone else, everyone else and-

Kaladin screwed his eyes shut, willing away the wretch. He wasn't gone _that_ far yet. 

"Go to the Air Temple and?" Adolin prodded Kaladin with an undeserving gentleness to his tone. 

Kaladin glared at Adolin, who only met it evenly, and with concern. He then sighed, nodding at Adolin, feeling grateful and slightly ashamed of himself. 

Did he really have to be like this, Kaladin wondered ruefully, full of bitterness and regret and resentment? 

"We'll talk to the Air Nomads about letting her go. Then, I have to learn earthbending, I guess." Kaladin said, hating how his voice lacked any tone. 

"Anything else?" Renarin asked, placing one hand on top of the other and then clasping them together. 

Kaladin shook his head, wanting that feeling of relief, peace he had felt earlier more than anything, wanting to close his eyes. 

"No, thanks everyone, for listening to me." Kaladin said, trying to muster up a smile. 

"Of course we'd listen to you." Adolin said, eyes flashing with knowing. 

"Well, off to save the world, huh?" Shallan asked, smiling slightly. 

"Yeah," Kaladin then yawned.

"But we'll need sleep first. Try not to sleep anywhere too obvious." 

* * *

"Hey, farm boy." Adolin said sleepily, even as Kaladin rested his head on top of a bag. 

"What?" Kaladin asked shortly, not in the mood. 

"I wanna, really really wanna....something." Adolin said, yawning widely. 

"What?"

"When this is over, I'd like it if you'd watch Dashin's Reign in the theater." Adolin said, turning over and revealing alert, blue eyes that danced with mischief. 

Kaladin gaped before kicking Adolin's knee, making the other laugh. "No way! That guy is intimidating!" Kaladin said, horrified. 

Adolin didn't stop laughing. "Spirits, you're still scared of that?" 

Kaladin glared at him. "The guy- constructed a _noose_ for execution, because he _liked_ executing people! And I was just a _kid_ , when you told me that story!" 

Adolin smiled. "Yeah, you were just a kid. And yes, I thought," he snorted, grinning. "It was really funny to scare you. Do you remember the time-"

By the time Kaladin found his eyes drooping, he found that he was feeling just a bit more purpose in him than before. 

And that Adolin Kholin had once again did something he wasn't supposed to do. 

And infuriatingly enough, he had fallen for it once again. 

Strangely enough, he didn't mind. Not this time. But he never minded, did he? 

"Hey, Adolin?"

Adolin looked at him, laugh lines crisscrossed on his face in a rather endearing way that caused the strange something that Kaladin had felt earlier to grow in him again. 

"Why?" Kaladin could only ask drowsily, even though he wasn't really aware what the question is about at this point. 

The smile on his friend's face was achingly tender, the look in his eyes so terribly warm and that was the last thing Kaladin saw before his eyes closed out of their own will. 

He didn't feel Adolin tucking a stray lock of his behind his ear, he didn't hear Adolin whispering in his ear, "Because _you're worth caring for, Kaladin."_

* * *

"Those _idiots_." Shallan whispered in outrage, and Renarin just sighed out into the air, considering he couldn't nod because he was sleeping on his back. 

Well, they were sleeping even as Adolin and Kaladin were talking about something or the other they had done in the Fire Nation, but then Shallan woke up, wondering why everything had suddenly gone quiet, had nudged Renarin awake only for Renarin to see his brother tenderly looking at the Avatar. 

Unfortunately, the Avatar had fallen asleep and most probably didn't realize that someone out there loved him with all their heart and all that romantic nonsense Renarin remembered that his mother read. 

Renarin and Shallan stared at each other with pity, before yawning and then sleeping away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda got carried away in the end, didn't i
> 
> i edited out the forehead kiss (*gets shot*) because i felt it was too soon, so for whomever wants to kill me, you can find me in my bedroom in Southeast Asia


	10. A Bigger Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i'm really sorry for the edit i made last chapter but i felt like i had to because it seemed too soon. i mean at first when i wrote it i was really happy but then i felt like it was too soon and that it could be an issue in later chapters you know? i am really sorry please don't shoot me lol

"How did we get here?" Adolin asks with a sigh, staring at the musty cave around them. 

Shallan nudged him. "Be nice, Kaladin's _happy_."

Adolin rolled his eyes. "I know that. That's not what bothers me-"

" _Obviously_ not." Renarin says with a tiny grin.

Adolin elbowed his brother, cheeks redder than usual, while Shallan snickered. "My problem is..."

Adolin sighed and then looked at Kaladin smiling. 

"How are we going to feed a dragon?" Adolin asked, folding his arms. 

* * *

* * *

First of all, Adolin was kicking himself for having been so gooey yesterday. 

_Because you're worth caring for? Really?_ Adolin could have done better, he thinks to himself in resigned annoyance as he trudges behind at the end of their little convoy, while they trek all the way to Ba Sing Se, after having told the chief nun that Shallan would no longer be returning until the war was dealt with. 

At least he hadn't kissed the guy in his sleep- now that would have been super mortifying to deal with. 

Besides, Kaladin wasn't okay with affection on a daily basis, what would he think if Adolin just suddenly kissed his forehead or somewhere else out of nowhere? It was the whole reason Adolin had stopped hugging the guy. That and he wasn't okay with feeling how far Kaladin had grown and how far his feelings had grown, which he would feel, if he ever did hug Kaladin these days, and the selfish thought is enough to make him feel disgusted with himself.

_Spirits, Kaladin doesn't deserve me._

Kaladin stopped, before staring at the other three, who looked at him warily.

"Guys, I feel like we should take a little detour." Kaladin said, eyes serious and suddenly focused on something. 

Adolin smiles uneasily, feeling the confusion of the other two. "You're the leader here, buddy. We go where you go, provided there's a good reason. Any...spiritual connections or anything?"

Kaladin frowned, his intense gaze now focused on the unfortunate ground. "I don't know. I think you're right- I do feel a strong spiritual presence...Shallan, any idea?"

Shallan shrugged. "Well there were rumors of a dragon hiding in here somewhere. But we've never seen it, so it's a rumor." 

Kaladin's eyes lit up, but he was careful enough to not show his excitement. "Whatever it is, I feel like I've got to investigate it. Adolin, what do you think?"

Renarin stifled a smile while Shallan shot a meaningful grin at Adolin, who just glared at both of them before sighing and looking at Kaladin. "I don't know, Kal," he ran his hand through his hair, confused.

How did he go from being a war general to suddenly being expected to give sound and good advice, again?

"Look, if it turns out there's nothing, we go ahead with our usual path. Otherwise, if it turns out to be some...I don't know, violent spirit or whatsoever, maybe we check it out. Our job is to help everyone, remember?" Adolin said, hoping he sounded logical. 

Kaladin then nodded. "Makes sense. Let's go then!"

* * *

It turned out their little detour took them seven miles away from their path, which was sixty five miles away from Ba Sing Se, and they were therefore, seventy two miles away from Ba Sing Se. 

Plus, it had ended up in them standing in front of the mouth of cave with a beautiful waterfall around it. 

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Shallan said, hiding behind Adolin.

"It's just a cave." Kaladin said, shrugging. 

"I don't feel anything. I say we go in." Renarin said, already jogging inside. 

Adolin pinched the bridge of his nose while his other hand rested on his hip, feeling like one of those unfortunate caretakers as he watched Kaladin and Shallan argue while Renarin scanned the cave. Lately, he felt like that a lot. Spirits. 

He grabbed Renarin by the back of his shirt and used his other hand to cut the air between Shallan and Kaladin, whose faces were getting alarmingly redder and redder, and then jumped when Adolin gave both of them pointed looks. 

"People, let's all go in together. I trust what Kaladin has to say about this. Kaladin?"

Kaladin blinked, before nodding. "I feel it inside here."

"Great. Let's get going, everyone!" Adolin said, feeling more and more like a nanny, as he saw Shallan's disgruntled pout and let Renarin go, before pinching the bridge of his nose. 

* * *

The cave was musty and gave Adolin the heebie jeebies. 

Water was running on one side of the cave, while air suddenly ran in through the cracks. 

Kaladin however seemed determined to forge on, while Renarin, being the sensible one, raised his hand to create a flame, lighting up their way. 

"It's getting stronger...just this way." Kaladin said, running to another turn, while Adolin groaned and ran after him, Shallan trudging behind.

Imagine Adolin's surprise when he saw a large blue dragon sleeping peacefully. 

The dragon was breathtakingly beautiful- it had a long white mane, and white hair covered its tail. 

Kaladin grinned. "I _knew_ it." He whispered, looking at Adolin with unadulterated joy in his eyes and boy oh boy, Adolin felt himself melt. Just a little. 

"While you may have wanted a dragon, Kal, just be careful-" Adolin said but Kaladin shook his head.

"No. There's no need for that-this is my spirit guide. This dragon is it. Her spirit is connected to mine, in some weird way, but I know it. I know I'm supposed to find her here." 

Adolin wanted to die. "Um. Okay then, this is a thing for the Avatar, clearly, so...go connect with your spirit guide?"

"That's what I'm here for." Kaladin said, eyes dancing just before he went to see the dragon. 

* * *

* * *

Which brings you, to now. 

"Feeding her won't be a problem." Kaladin said with a small smile, as the dragon harrumphed, and with a sudden burst of light, shrunk down into a tiny, white flying dragon.

Adolin blinked. "Well, that solves most of our problems...does she have a name?"

"Sylphrena." Kaladin said, laughing as the dragon rested on the crook between his shoulders and his neck, rubbing her snout into his neck. 

"So....you've been waiting to meet...a tiny lizard for your whole life?" Shallan asked, blinking.

Kaladin raised an eyebrow at her. "I already met one, thank you very much. In fact, I'm looking at said tiny lizard right now."

"Knock it off you two. Well, we found the dragon- can we get going to Ba Sing Se?" Adolin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Renarin's eyes shone. "Well, we can do it a lot faster this time around. If Kaladin's okay with it, that is." 

Everyone looked at Renarin, curious, before Kaladin grinned.

"You know what, I think Renarin has a point."

* * *

Adolin didn't ask for this. 

To be on the top of a dragon with the wind messing up his hair and his breakfast crying out for a release from his stomach while he had to hold on to Kaladin's waist as they sat so the wind wouldn't knock him over. 

Adolin did not ask for this torture. 

He did not.

"Don't you think people are gonna panic at seeing a gigantic blue dragon flying out of nowhere?" Shallan asked, curious. 

Adolin was thinking the same thing but he had hoped that the Earth Kingdom would rejoice at seeing another foe against the Fire Nation, after all. Besides, Sylphrena was rather beautiful for them to panic at. 

"I don't think they're panicking!" Kaladin shouted back, the hint of a laugh in his voice, much like the first glimmer of sunlight after a rainy day. 

Adolin forced himself to look down, only to see amazed faces and a man....lying over cabbages, while still looking at them with admiration. People were muttering among themselves but with smiles on their faces, and for the first time since the Northern Water Tribe, he saw the glow of hope on their faces, saw how it lit up their eyes and caused them to smile. 

"Well, King Taravangian will certainly know about us now." Renarin says dryly from the back, even as Shallan giggles against his back, and Adolin only snorts before gagging again. 

"Adolin! Is that the palace?" Kaladin asks, turning back and hitting him lightly on the face.

Adolin wheezes before sipping a little of water and gargling it, then looking down at the large, ornate and tastelessly brown building before blinking and looking at the whole of Ba Sing Se again, remembering the map of the city. 

"Yeah, that should be the one." Adolin said, before gagging again. 

"Perfect." Kaladin said, before patting Sylphrena's back. The horrible movement of swimming in the air stops, and Adolin can feel the winds become gentler, sighing in relief as they descend. 

The guards at the door position their spears towards Kaladin when they reach the ground, wary and stiff. Kaladin only faces them resolutely while Syl turns into her tiny lizard form, scuttling into the pocket of his breeches and peeking out curiously. 

"I'm Avatar Kaladin, and I'd like to see King Taravangian, please."

The guards exchange a look before whispering furiously and then looking inside before sighing collectively.

"His Majesty will see you." 

* * *

"Royalty have way too much time on their hands." Kaladin muttered with distaste as they walked up from the outer court to the main hall, escorted by the guards.

"At least you didn't gape like a peasant this time." Adolin quips, grinning.

"He does that? I thought he doesn't have any other facial expressions apart from brooding." Shallan says, grinning when Kaladin glares at her. "There it is!" Shallan says, grinning wider when Kaladin just clicked his tongue and turned back. 

"He _can_ gape." Adolin said cheerfully, making Kaladin roll his eyes at him. 

"Hey, while you're at it, why don't you ask Renarin about facial expressions too? I've only ever seen him get annoyed." Kaladin said, grinning a little when Renarin squawks.

"Leave me out of this." Renarin says, shooting Kaladin a look.

"If I have to suffer, so do you." Kaladin said, blandly. Renarin stared at him.

"No." 

Adolin and Shallan snickered. "My brother shows more emotion than you do, actually." The former said, grinning.

"I'm just saying." Kaladin said, then staring when his friend went on talking to Shallan, who listened in awe.

"Oh, and he can grin like a little brat too." 

Renarin hummed. "He can also smile as if he saw a sunrise happening on a winter day, you know." 

Shallan nods wisely. "I've seen that smile, it's the one he gets whenever he talks about Adolin being-"

Adolin shoots both of them a suspicious look. "Adolin being _what_ , exactly?"

Renarin and Shallan squirm under that glare for all of few seconds before shaking their heads in unison. 

Adolin narrows his eyes. "It better be nothing." 

They just then reach the throne room, none of them noticing the confused look on Kaladin's face and the curious one on Syl's. 

* * *

King Taravangian was honestly older and more kindly-looking than Kaladin had expected from a possible genocide sympathizer. His eyes held a wealth of knowledge and Kaladin got the feeling that there was more to this seemingly weak old man than what met the eye. Adolin and Renarin exchanging a suspicious look was enough proof of that. The old king did look weary though, and regretful about many things, but he held his head high and smiled at Kaladin.

"Ah. Avatar Kaladin. It is a great honor to meet you." Taravangian said, his voice reedy with age but strong, surprisingly. 

Kaladin nodded, bowing before talking. "As it is to meet you, Your Majesty. I understand you gave the Skybreakers some rather specific commands?"

King Taravangian's smile deepened but it only became heavier as well. "Yes. You certainly don't waste your time in pleasantries, Avatar. Would I be remiss in understanding that you accept to them?"

Kaladin nodded. "You would be heavily remiss, Your Majesty. I don't accept genocides, and I certainly am not going to partake in the trading of lives." 

King Taravangian sighed, still smiling. "Would you walk with me, Avatar Kaladin? Your friends can rest in the guest rooms. They'll be accustomed to a royal welcome, of course."

"If I may, we don't need a royal welcome, Your Majesty. We're perfectly fine and perfectly accustomed to waiting. The walk won't take long, I presume?" Adolin asked, voice curt. 

Shallan wilted a little, and Renarin pat her back reassuringly. 

Taravangian looked surprised before nodding. "Of course, Prince Adolin."

"I'm not a scion of the Fire Nation any more, Your Majesty, if you will." Adolin said, shaking his head.

Taravangian looked surprised yet once again while Kaladin felt a mixture of fondness, pride and exasperation towards his friend. "...Of course."

Adolin nodded, before sending a look at Kaladin. _I don't trust him. Be careful._

Kaladin didn't know exactly when they could read what the other was trying to say through looks alone, but he supposed five years of friendship could help you understand a person better. _Got it._

* * *

Kaladin sighed, as the king and him walked to the Outer Court. The walk only served to heighten his frustration and anxiety, but he supposed rulers liked their diplomacy, and Kaladin couldn't exactly argue against diplomacy. He just wished it weren't so tiring. And more direct. But wishing for something like _that_ was like wishing for immortality or something along those lines. 

"Tell me, Avatar Kaladin, what do you know of my request?"

 _Huh. So he can cut to the chase after all._ Kaladin pursed his lips before talking.

"That you want me to help the Earth Kingdom annihilate the Fire Nation." Kaladin said calmly, noting the surprise in the aged king's features.

"That is precisely, what I want. But do you know why? Apart from the obvious fact that they are oppressing this world and harming it?" Taravangian asked, eyes suddenly sharp.

Kaladin inhaled. "Whatever the reason, slaughtering an entire group of people will solve practically nothing. Your Majesty. Nor is it right. Besides, isn't it a little arrogant of you to presume that I might agree to be _used_ to end this war, like a slave?"

Taravangian flinched imperceptibly before chuckling. "You certainly don't mince your words, Avatar Kaladin."

"If I did that, I wouldn't end up going anywhere. Now tell me, what exactly are your plans? I'd like the entire truth, Your Majesty." 

Taravangian stopped, and the sun threw light on the shadows under his eyes. He sighed, and Kaladin stopped as well, facing him. 

"The annihilation of the Fire Nation will be meant to serve a greater purpose. I assume you know of the listeners?"

Kaladin bit on his lip, willing himself not to show surprise. "I do. Considering that I was the one who enslaved them in the past, I pretty much am obligated to know who they are."

Taravangian nodded. "We believed, that if the Fire Nation was rid of its rulers, the people would be resented. Hated by the rest of the world, which will not forget what has happened to them. Instead of facing that, they could be relieved of the misery and prejudice they'd have to face, and that land could be given to the listeners. Think about it, Avatar Kaladin, the Fire Nation citizens will repent, yes. But for how long? Will they not resent the entire world? The world is not a kind soul."

Kaladin swallowed. "You're asking me to send millions of innocents to the pyre."

"To save the true inhabitants of the world, who wait for vengeance and have been wronged by us, by _you,_ " Kaladin flinched. "Time and time again." 

Kaladin inhaled and exhaled, willing himself to not lose his temper. "Still. A genocide? How does that make you any better than the Fire Nation or the rest of the human race? You're proposing to fight fire with fire, but don't you think there'll be a bigger fire by the end of it all?"

"A fire that will be put out, only if you have the mind to completely extinguish it before it burns everywhere. And this isn't about morality, Avatar Kaladin. This is about the greater good."

Kaladin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "The greater good? What good comes out of that? And if humans aren't about morality, then why are we cursed with that sense of knowing what is right and what is wrong? Is that something vestigial, then, Your Majesty?"

Taravangian bowed his head. "Believe me, Avatar Kaladin. I do not want it to come to this. But there is no other choice. There are only enough listeners, and all of them can take up a part of their original land, the Fire Nation and the Southern Water Tribe. I believe you know what has happened there."

"And don't you think they'll retaliate when not given the rest? Who is to say that because of how wronged they have been, the injustice that they have been served will not propel them to take the rest? Do you even know where they are?" Kaladin asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"They only meet with us once in a moon. They do not say where they come from." Taravangian said, and Kaladin sighed.

"Your Majesty, you're trying to save this world. That's....admirable, really. But you don't require it to come to something this drastic, believe me. Serving to kill a set of murderers will not decrease the number of murderers. At all. It's like trying to push away a storm by blowing harder. And I require you to understand one thing."

Kaladin didn't notice Taravangian's shocked expression.

" _ **The Avatar is not a tool, to save the world.**_ " 

Taravangian swallowed, and Kaladin felt something clear in his mind. 

"I hope you'll understand that. I'm your ally, yes. But do not presume to use me as a slave. I've had enough of being enslaved." Kaladin said, quietly. 

Taravangian swallowed again and nodded. "Understood, Avatar Kaladin."

"I hope this doesn't mark me as an enemy."

Taravangian smiled wanly but it was tired and genuine, all the same. "No, Avatar. I understand where you're coming from. But do tell me...how do you plan on saving both races? It's not an easy gambit, by any means."

Kaladin snorted politely, weariness flooding him. "It isn't. But I will give all I have to spare as many lives as I can. And hopefully, I can come up with something by ending this war. Will you agree to work with me fully?"

King Taravangian nodded, understanding. "I agree to work with you, Avatar Kaladin. But I still don't agree with you."

Kaladin smiled for the first time since meeting the king. "But you agree with what I desire to achieve."

Taravangian chuckled wryly. "That I do. I am still skeptical of your probability of achieving it."

Kaladin exhaled, amused. "I was too. But I've learned that skepticism doesn't really agree with the rate the world is slowly getting destroyed at. Do I have your word on not attacking the Fire Nation, unless and until provoked?"

Taravangian nodded. "You do."

"Fine then. Thank you for listening to me, Your Majesty."

Taravangian chuckled. "You didn't really give me a choice, Avatar Kaladin."

Kaladin sighed. "Well, you didn't give me one either, Your Majesty."

"On that front, I might be guilty as charged." 

* * *

Adolin is met with something rather strange, when waiting. 

A masked assailant dressed in a rather familiar uniform enters the throne room from a window, and the guards widen their eyes, poised to strike but the assailant comes in, walking up to Adolin before raising their hands in surrender at the guards.

"I want to talk to Adolin Kholin." The person says, in a young masculine voice with a familiar tone to it that Adolin can't place.

Adolin himself raises an eyebrow, and looks at the visitor. Brown eyes, strangely familiar, again, peek out from behind the eye slits. The mask is ornately designed, reminding Adolin of a statue and the garb...

It clicks. "You're a Lightweaver."

The young person (Adolin isn't quick to assume genders. He did it once out of accident and it had _not_ gone well) grins, which is shown by how their eyes crinkle. "It's nice to see that you recognize us no matter what we wear."

Adolin snorted, while Shallan and Renarin watch curiously. "It'd be hard not to recognize you guys. What do you want?"

The young person stood straight, before sighing. "Well...I'm here on a personal request actually...I'd like you guys to come to the Imperial Theater, south of here. After the afternoon show, in ten minutes that is...and please bring the Avatar. It's kinda...important." The young man said (Adolin was sure of it now), rubbing his gloved hands together. 

Adolin looked at the other two, who shrugged, before sighing. "Fine. We can do that. I'm guessing you have important information that can't be discussed anywhere else?"

The young man chuckled. "Nothing like that, but I do have something important for the Avatar...I'm hoping he finds it important enough, anyway. Thank you." He said, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Literally. 

Adolin stared at the puff of smoke while Shallan's eyes glowed with wonder. Renarin however, was frowning at said puff of smoke.

"Huh." 

Adolin then sighed in relief as he saw the king and Kaladin stroll up the throne room. "I take it that the walk went well?"

Taravangian chuckled. "Well, there were a few hiccups. But eventually, I'd be pressed to say it was agreeable." 

Kaladin snorted when Taravangian wasn't looking.

"You may feel free to reside in any part of Ba Sing Se and to be treated as friends of the court."

Adolin bowed. "Thank you for the honor, Your Majesty."

"If you don't mind, we'll be on our way then. We're more comfortable out in the open, anyway." Kaladin said, wryly. 

Shallan made a face, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like ' _unsophisticated meatheads'_ under her breath. 

Taravangian nodded with a more genuine smile. "Very well then." 

* * *

* * *

"Did he finally agree to your demands?" Renarin asked curiously. Kaladin nodded, looking exhausted.

"That old man would have been legendary at debate and regaling morbid ideas. Agni, was it exhausting." Kaladin grumbled, while Syl made sounds in agreement, peeking out from behind Kaladin's neck with a disgruntled look on her tiny face. 

"Anything we should look out for?"

Kaladin sighed, drooping a little. "He seemed to have met the listeners, but apparently they didn't trust him that much. They seem to be disappearing every now and then, way he said it. But the priority is the war, first and foremost." He said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, because that way, you get more time to search for people who are practically invisible, yeah?" Shallan said, looking tired as well. 

Kaladin nodded, nose wrinkled. "True." He said, a little gloomy. 

"By the way, a Lightweaver wanted to see you at the Imperial Theater." Adolin said, as they walked out. 

"Is that what he said?" Kaladin asked with a frown, once they were safely out of the Outer Court.

Adolin nodded. "Yeah. The afternoon show should be over in ten minutes...or so he said. Besides, I'd like a little bit of theater myself!" He said, shrugging with a grin, earning him a bland stare from Kaladin. 

Renarin shook his head. "Mom and Adolin _love_ theater. I never saw the point of it anyway." The latter said, rolling his eyes. 

Kaladin only snorted in reply. "Yeah, I know. Used to drag me out to see all the shows before the monarchy abolished theater."

Adolin chuckled. "Fun times." Kaladin rolled his eyes. 

Shallan shrugged. "I've never seen a play. But I think it'd be fun?"

Adolin widened his eyes, gasping. "You've never seen a play before?"

Shallan stared. "Did you miss the part where I became a nun?"

Adolin blinked, before staring on resolutely. "Well, that has to be remedied, immediately! Come on, kiddo- we don't have much time to lose!"

Kaladin and Renarin stared at each other in befuddlement before sighing and following as Shallan blushed while Adolin dragged her to the theater, albeit gently, of course.

* * *

"You two can look for that strange Lightweaver; Shallan and I have a small play to watch! We won't be long." Adolin said, grinning.

Renarin's brow furrowed slightly. "Uh, okay then."

"We've all been stressed the past few days, I hardly think the Fire Nation'll ambush us now. They'll think twice so it won't be a problem." Adolin said comfortingly. 

Kaladin sighed. "Fine. We'll go scout for the guy and if it turns out to be a scam-"

Renarin shook his head. "He seemed serious." 

Kaladin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay then. Let's go, Renarin." 

Shallan however, looked terribly apprehensive as she and Adolin went to a room showing a play named _"The Tale of Two Lovers"._

"Huh. What's this play about?" Shallan asked, curious as she and Adolin took their seats.

Adolin's face considerably became more gentle and nostalgic as he looked at the beautifully decorated stage- paintings of vines and flowers were draped against a forested background, while the music being played was somber yet romantic. "It's my mother's favorite tale...it's a shame you only get to see the shortened version, because it's a beautiful tale. You see, there were once two lovers, who loved each other fiercely even though they were from warring tribes. So fiercely, they changed the whole world and their love lives on forever,"

Shallan smiled. "I didn't peg you for a romantic." She teased.

Adolin's cheeks were pink. "Well, I enjoy a nice tale of romance, every now and then. What, did you think I was one of those meat headed soldiers who makes sure they're seen doing manly things all the time?"

Shallan giggled. "A bit, yeah. But it's nice to see sensitive men."

Adolin rubbed the back of his neck. "Shallan, I have to tell you this...You do know I'm an adult, right? And...you're not." He said lamely, after a while, looking uncomfortable. 

Shallan rolled her eyes. "I think you're attractive, that's all. I also know that you're besotted for Kaladin. So there."

Adolin blushed. "Uh. That obvious, huh?"

Shallan snorted impressively as the two lovers entered the stage. "Everyone except Kaladin knows you're in love with him."

Adolin stiffened, before looking away. "Uh."

Shallan then looked worried. "Uh, am I wrong? Did I make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry-"

"No, no, no. That's not...I'm just...conflicted, I guess." Adolin said with a small smile, patting Shallan's head. 

Shallan blinked. "Um. Is it that complicated?"

Adolin smiled, letting out an amused exhale. "Don't worry about that. Just watch the play, it's really beautiful." 

Shallan snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder and Adolin, warmed by the contact, put his arm around her. 

"You're too nice of a big brother for you to be my boyfriend anyway." Shallan said, and Adolin laughed, shoulders shaking while the former grinned. 

* * *

"What's it with people and theater anyway?" Kaladin muttered, baffled as they wandered the grounds, looking around for a Lightweaver.

Syl peeked out of his pockets every five seconds, sniffing around curiously. 

According to Adolin, he had been dressed in black from head to toe, face covered with a strangely beautiful mask, and had brown eyes. But there was no one, virtually no one, and Kaladin was getting fairly agitated. 

Renarin shrugged. "Maybe dramatic people get tips."

Kaladin snorted. "That's one way to put it." 

"Sorry for making you guys wander." A young male voice said, nervous yet light, came from behind them and Kaladin froze, turning to look at the owner of said voice.

He fit Adolin's description perfectly.

"Well, here you are." Renarin said, frowning.

The young man's eyes crinkled from behind the mask, and Kaladin felt chilled for a moment- looking into those eyes felt like looking into a mirror. But he wondered- why in the name of Agni were those eyes so familiar?

"Here I am." The young man said, his eyes now averting away from Kaladin's for some strange reason. He sighed, and removed his mask, and Kaladin widened his eyes.

" _Tien?_ "

The young man, _Tien,_ Kaladin thought with amazement, his mind reeling, nodded with a sad smile. 

"Hello, Kaladin." Tien said, voice soft and tremulous. 


	11. Seemed Deliberate

In Renarin's defense, he waited for Kaladin and Tien to reunite....whoever Tien was. 

Really, you could give Renarin that much. 

* * *

"Tien?" Kaladin breathed out, amazed, and Tien nodded, smiling awkwardly. 

"Hi." Tien said in a small voice, before Kaladin just shook his head, awestruck. 

Tien bit on his lip, clearly nervous about approaching and Kaladin's face breaks out into a grin, heartfelt and true- and Tien just rushes up to him, hugging him tightly. 

"Tien," Kaladin breathed out again, amazed and happy as he tightly wrapped his arms around his little brother, praying this wasn't a dream and his brother wouldn't leave him again. 

"I'm here." Tien whispered, hugging Kaladin back. 

Renarin blinked, before it hit him, and he smiled.

Syl crooned at Tien, who noticed the dragon, laughing as Kaladin hugged him. 

"How'd you figure it was me?" Tien asked, pulling back and looking at his brother.

Kaladin shook his head, smiling. "I did. Somehow. I'd know you anywhere." 

And it's then that Kaladin thinks, how did he recognize his little brother, who he had last seen as young boy of ten? Not this...this youth in front of him? And he knows, because his little brother's eyes glow like the sun, no matter where, no matter who he was.

And Kaladin knowing that, hugs his brother tighter. 

Tien laughed as Kaladin let go. "Good thing then...where are the other two?" He asked, looking confused.

Kaladin snorted. "Watching a play." 

Tien blinked. "Huh?"

"Don't ask." Renarin said, snorting. 

Tien then notices Renarin for the first time, blinking. 

* * *

"They loved each other so _much_." Shallan whispered out, eyes full of tears.

Adolin chuckled as he wiped away her tears with a finger. "That they did. They believed that love was the brightest thing in the universe. And...it really is." He said, smiling softly as the cast bowed. 

"Wow. If the shortened version is this good, when can I watch the actual one?" Shallan asked, looking up at Adolin excitedly.

Adolin snorted. "When we finish up all of this, whatever we're doing. Or when we have the time to. We only did this because it was short." 

Shallan pouted. "Aw." 

Just then they turned back, only to see Kaladin waving at them from there with the widest smile Adolin had ever seen on his face, arm around a younger clone of the Avatar while Renarin had a smile on his face.

Adolin blinked, before realizing that mini-Kaladin was actually the Lightweaver that had encountered him- those brown eyes were startlingly familiar. 

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Adolin asked once they were close enough, raising an eyebrow at mini-Kaladin. 

Kaladin chuckled. "Hey people. Tien, meet Adolin Kholin, my best friend. Adolin, meet Tien, my little brother."

Adolin did a double take, eyes wide as Tien laughed endearingly while Shallan considered him curiously. 

It's not just the little brother thing that takes Adolin aback- it's also the fact he has not seen Kaladin this cheerful-not even when completing that ridiculous airbending training ice exercise but Adolin isn't complaining.

"Seriously? Little brother?" Adolin asked, gaping as Tien rubbed the back of his neck with a grin. 

Tien chuckled. "Yeah, long story short, I kinda got saved by a Lightweaver in the Fire Nation army, so here I am. I've been trying to get inside the Fire Nation palace for ages, and track you guys down, but it never coincided till today. Our family is here too, so you guys could come in and rest before doing whatever it is you guys wanna do."

Adolin shot Renarin a questioning glance, while Renarin just chuckled, waving a hand and mouthing _'long story'_.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you guys ran out of the Fire Nation palace with Princess Jasnah Kholin's help,"

Kaladin wrinkled his nose in distaste while Adolin nodded. Even Shallan and Renarin's eyes were wide as they walked their way to Kaladin's house, Kaladin had a house apparently, spirits. 

"Then ran off to Ash Island, then went the way to the Northern Water Tribe, single handedly took down _Dalinar Kholin,"_

Kaladin smirked a little, pointing at Adolin. "Yeah, Adolin did that."

"Did _not_!" Adolin said hotly, heat rising all the way from his neck to his face, unable to bear the pride in his friend's face, while Shallan gaped at him. 

"You took down one of the Fire Nation's strongest generals?" Shallan breathed out, and Kaladin nodded, still smiling.

"He did that while his arm was burnt by the way." 

" _You_ healed my arm!" Adolin protested, while Tien and Renarin stared at him in awe.

"Okay then my brother fused with Tui and La, of all the spirits he could fuse with-"

"Yeah, he did that." Adolin said with a grin. Kaladin punched his arm, now flushed with embarrassment. 

"Then you guys met Shallan over here, who was apparently...ogling at Adolin?" Tien asked, looking at Renarin for confirmation, who nodded with a grin at Shallan. Shallan shrieked and slapped Renarin's arm, who only laughed slightly. 

Adolin snorted while Tien grinned. 

"Yeah, I can understand that." Tien said cheerfully. 

"Come on guys, I know I'm good looking. Let's not rub it in." Adolin said, smirking as he raised his hands in a _'settle down people'_ gesture, earning himself an eye roll from Kaladin and Syl as well. 

"Now I regret ever having ogled you." Shallan said dryly, making Kaladin snort and Renarin snicker. 

"Then she became Kaladin's airbending teacher," Tien recalled, waving a hand around. 

"Which reminds me, you still haven't completed your airbending training! I mean, there's only a few a parts to go over through though..." Shallan said, looking contemplative at the end. 

Tien snapped his fingers. "The Cave of the Two Lovers? It is a great place for training actually despite the cheesy name. You could finish his airbending training there."

"Huh." Shallan said, tapping her chin in thought. 

Adolin frowned. "Isn't it taken by the Fire Nation? We were already planning an expedition to conquer it..." Adolin recalled, curious.

"Yeah, but they weren't counting on the Lightweavers having sabotaged their operation. Now they're pretty much convinced the place is haunted." Tien said cheerfully, eyes dancing. 

Adolin laughed, slapping Tien's back with a grin. "Nice!"

"Happy to sabotage the Fire Nation whenever we can." Tien said, with an exaggerated bow, making Shallan grin. 

"Anyways, back to your journey! So the Skybreakers burnt down the Air Temple and Shallan and Renarin got caught by the Skybreakers for what, execution?"

Shallan and Renarin shivered. "Dude, the amount of corpses down there was crazy." Shallan said, shuddering.

Tien sighed, waving a hand. "Yeah those guys are really hard core. Have been for centuries. Anyways! So Kaladin and Adolin got annoyed, went in there to rescue you and took down what, fifty Skybreakers?"

Kaladin and Adolin exchanged a confused look, as if trying to recall exactly how many Skybreakers were there while Shallan shuddered again, Renarin grimacing. 

"Not fifty. There were thousands of them in there." Shallan said, quietly. 

Kaladin blinked. "Huh."

Adolin scratched his head. "Huh."

Tien gaped at the duo. "You guys took down the whole cult, I mean, _force_?!" 

Kaladin shrugged. "We just took down whoever was there, I mean, we were pretty mad." 

Adolin nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't that hard actually, I mean, we just wanted to send across the message." 

Tien shuddered. "Monsters."

Kaladin and Adolin protested, but Shallan and Renarin shot them a look. 

"You guys were! We couldn't even walk to meet you two because there were _that_ many people groaning in pain!" Shallan said, pointing a finger in Kaladin's face. 

Renarin nodded furiously. " _Exactly_." 

Tien whistled. "Then you guys took a trek, found a dragon, flew all the way to Ba Sing Se, actually stopped King Taravangian from deciding to commit a mass genocide, then you're here walking with me to my house! That's a ride if ever."

Renarin nudged Tien, who looked at him curiously before following his lead and walking a few feet away. "Plus, my brother has a raging crush on yours." Renarin said, looking back at the duo, who were talking about something or the other. 

Tien smirked. "I know. The Lightweavers are betting on it." Tien whispered, dragging Shallan a few feet away from Kaladin and Adolin in turn, who just looked confused before shrugging. 

Shallan widened her eyes. "On what, exactly?"

Tien grinned. "On who'll confess first. My bet is on my brother."

Renarin snorted. "No offence, but your brother isn't exactly the most emotionally sensitive person on the planet." Shallan nodded, skeptical. 

Tien laughed, wagging a finger. "Ah, I won't deny that, but I know he _definitely_ feels something for Adolin. He couldn't shut up about your brother the first few seconds we tried to go look for which play he was watching, remember?"

Shallan inhaled sharply. "Seriously?"

Tien grinned. "Definitely."

Renarin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Kaladin was going on all about how Tien would really like Adolin for all of one sentence."

_"I think you'll like him, I mean, he's nice. You just can't not like him, you get what I mean?"_

_Tien and Renarin exchanged a befuddled look._

Tien huffed but smiled. "True, but it's a big confession from my brother at any rate. Besides, Kaladin is really more of the 'do first, think later' guy. He was like that even as a kid, and it's easy to see that he hasn't changed." 

Renarin looked contemplative. "I still say Adolin'll lose it and confess to him." 

Shallan hummed. "I'm betting my money on the fact we'll never get a real confession. We'll probably see Adolin do something cheesy like whisper sweet nothings into his ear and then get embarrassed later. And Kaladin will remain the emotionally stunted bull that he is."

Tien pouted. "Wow, guys, way to not have faith. Still won't change the fact I'll earn a buttload of money from this." He said, smirking as he rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation. 

Renarin raised an eyebrow but smiled. He was starting to like Tien and from the look on Shallan's face, he could see that she liked Tien too. It was difficult not to. Tien understood what you were saying instinctively, and the fact the look in his eyes wasn't as haunted as Adolin's definitely helped. 

There wasn't any mistaking about the hardened air around Tien, however. 

"Or maybe you'll be the one paying." Renarin said, shrugging.

Tien laughed. "We'll see about that. Oh, here we are!" 

Kaladin stared at the house. "Since when could we afford a house in the freaking Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se? I remember us relying on donations to make two ends to meet back in the Fire Nation."

Tien chuckled. "Mom got a government job, and the Lightweavers don't pay too shabby either. Dad can finally not charge his patients without the guilt." He said, looking at Kaladin with a grin. 

Adolin coughed politely into his hand, earning him a glare from Kaladin.

"Don't." Kaladin warned, holding up a finger. Syl glared at him in agreement, jumping from Kaladin's pocket. 

Adolin gave him a sickly sweet smile that put most maidens to shame- and of all the horrors, the hint of a dimple played out from his cheeks. "I didn't say anything, Kal." He said innocently. 

"You better not have." 

Adolin's smile widened even as Kaladin inched two steps closer threateningly. "Won't say a word. Rich boy."

Kaladin growled, before Adolin raised his hands with a smirk. "Said I wouldn't say a _word_. Two words don't come under that." The latter said, infernally cheerful.

"Oh, how _clever_." Kaladin hissed, making Adolin snicker. 

"Hey. I have no shame in admitting I'm not a peasant. You on the other hand, are very determined to stay a peasant." Adolin said, while Tien, Shallan and Renarin stared at the duo. 

"This is more entertaining than the gossips in Ash Island, honestly." Tien said, looking interested.

Shallan giggled, while Renarin nodded with a chuckle.

Tien then started shooting the duo a dubious look. "Oi, oi, isn't that a little too close for comfort?" 

Shallan winced but then rolled her eyes with a nod. "They're like that all the time. You should have seen Adolin that one time he poured water on Kaladin's head-"

"Seriously?" Tien asked, gaping.

Renarin nodded wisely. "Yeah." 

"Better a peasant than a spoiled rich boy!"

"Better a spoiled rich boy than a smelly boy." 

"Hey- I don't smell that bad-"

Unfortunately, Syl proved Adolin's point by grunting uncomfortably with her eyes pinched. 

Kaladin then started shaking Adolin by the shoulders, muttering profanities all the way while Adolin let himself be shook, staring blandly at the house in front of him. The door just then opened, revealing a fairly tall woman cradling a baby, looking surprised to see three befuddled youngsters and two arguing teenagers on her doorstep.

"Hi, Mom." Tien said, dryly, waving. 

"Is that...Kaladin?"

At the sound of his mother's voice, Kaladin stopped shaking Adolin and looked at Hesina, hands still on Adolin's shoulders, eyes wide. Hesina and the baby both stared at Adolin, who gave her a cheery wave with a pleasant smile, before Hesina started laughing. "Kaladin, do let go of the poor boy." 

Kaladin blinked and then let go of Adolin with an undignified squawk "Um. Hi. Mom." 

Hesina then handed the baby over to Tien, who started cooing at said baby while Shallan and Renarin looked at the baby curiously, before hugging Kaladin. 

"I've missed you, dear." Hesina said, her voice thick with emotion. 

Kaladin swallowed, feeling his own eyes mist over.

"Me too, Mom. Me too."

Hesina let go of him before smiling. "You grew up far too much, didn't you?" She said, cupping Kaladin's cheek.

Kaladin shrugged. "I had good food." 

Hesina chuckled, but her eyes were shadowed. "I wasn't talking about your admittedly impressive height, Kal."

Kaladin rubbed the back of his head in reply. "Well, that too." He said, lamely. 

Hesina sighed but smiled again. "Whatever it is, you've come back to us, Kal, and that's more than enough, really. It's...it's more than enough." She said, her voice cracking and lowering to a whisper at the end. 

She then looked around before chuckling. "Where are my manners? Come inside, everyone. You must be tired enough as it is! Get inside!" 

Kaladin then spotted the baby in Tien's arms, blinking. "Tien?"

Tien blinked before his face lit up, and then held over the baby to Kaladin. "Right! Kal, meet our baby brother, Oroden. Oroden, meet your long lost older brother, Kaladin. Here, hold him." Tien said, handing over the baby to his brother, who held him tentatively, eyes wide with wonder. 

Adolin shouldn't really be softening at the sight of his best friend with a baby, but because he was a spirit-cursed sap, he did so anyway. 

As they walked in, Kaladin refused to let go of Oroden- despite holding him the wrong way. 

"Hey, hold him like this." Adolin said, shifting Kaladin's arms gently so that Oroden was more comfortably positioned. Oroden himself grunted comfortably, making Adolin chuckle at the somber baby. The grunting was definitely a family inherited trait that somehow skipped Tien. Judging by Hesina's pleasant way of speaking and distinct lack of grunting, Adolin guessed that the grunting was inherited from Kaladin's father. 

Kaladin looked at Adolin in surprise before shaking his head, smiling slightly. "I'm guessing Renarin played a major role in you learning how to carry a baby."

Adolin grinned, looking at Renarin who had seemed to take to Tien quickly for some reason. "Yeah, he wasn't usually so annoying. He was cute too." 

"I heard that." Renarin said, sending Adolin a dry look while Tien chuckled behind his hand and Shallan raised her eyebrows, as if she too was challenging the notion that Renarin had been a cute baby. Adolin, in reply, stuck his tongue out at Renarin who just rolled his eyes and went back talking to Tien and Shallan. 

"Wow, real mature." Kaladin said, making Adolin make a face at him as well. Oroden frowned at the face, before squinting closer and trying to imitate it. When Kaladin spotted it, he glared at Adolin who laughed. 

"Lirin is in the back, attending to a patient. But he'll be pleased to see you all, and you can feel free to make yourselves at home!" Hesina said, with a cheer that was clearly inherited solely by Tien, as she disappeared into a room.

Tien sniffed. "If Mom is making bean curd puffs, you guys are in luck!" He said, turning back and grinning before sinking into a plush cough, sighing out in relief. 

Kaladin's eyes grew wistful even as he tried to make himself comfortable on the couch. He then grunted in annoyance and sat down on the floor, much to the general mixture of bewilderment and amusement of the others, before nodding. "Yeah, but she used to make those amazing smoked sea slugs. You can't get them here, right?"

Renarin shook his head. "That, was a delicacy." He said, looking wistful as well. 

Tien wrinkled his nose. "Really? I thought they tasted grimy." 

Adolin snorted. "You and me both." He and Tien then shared a high five, shuddering at the apparently abnormal liking of sea slugs. 

Shallan raised her hand. "Can't speak for meat. But I like my tofu to be like the general male specimen's brain- bland, tasteless, and boring."

The others stared at Shallan, who shrugged. "What? You guys may be awesome muscle power, but let's face it, men are boring."

"So you're telling me you never daydreamed of being with a guy or something?" Tien asked, raising an eyebrow.

Shallan shrugged. "Nope." 

Tien whistled, impressed. "Nice."

Shallan grinned. "Thank you. But I do remember wanting to marry Sister Rushu before she shaved her head." She said, shrugging.

Kaladin stared. "Isn't that a _little_ vain of you?"

Shallan blinked, before twiddling with her thumbs a little, pouting. "Well, in my defense, she was _really_ pretty before she shaved her head. And then I found out I wasn't supposed to marry anyone." 

Adolin and Tien gave Kaladin dry looks, while Renarin pat Shallan's back sympathetically. 

"Way to go, buddy. You just successfully bullied a kid." Adolin said, shaking his head.

Kaladin looked defensive. "What? I was just saying it as it was! I mean...it _is_ kind of vain."

"At least I can speak for what I like and what my preferences are. What about _you_ , mister?" Shallan shot back, raising an eyebrow.

Kaladin froze, while everyone else listened intently, making Shallan smirk.

"That's...that's completely irrelevant!" Kaladin said hotly, as Tien gently swiped Oroden away from him and put him in a cradle, before hurrying back to the couch to listen to this very interesting conversation. 

" _Is_ it? A little stupid of you, don't you think? You're just proving my point that men are _boring_." Shallan drawled.

Kaladin swallowed before folding his arms and leaning against the foot of the couch. "Whatever. I don't have the time for it anyway." Kaladin said quietly, facing away. 

"You got to have liked somebody!" Tien protested, but surprisingly, Adolin raised a hand, eyes cold.

"Stop. He's clearly uncomfortable." Adolin said calmly, but anyone with a functioning pair of eyes could see that his calmness was feigned, if the way he didn't face anyone was a good indicator. 

"Thank you!" Kaladin said, throwing up his hands. 

Anyone with a functioning pair of eyes save for Kaladin, that is. 

* * *

"Bean curd puffs!!" Tien shouted with excitement, as Hesina laid out the plates with a smile and then kissed Tien's cheek. 

Shallan's mouth watered slightly while Renarin immediately began polishing off his bowl of noodles, as Kaladin inhaled the steam coming out of his bison meat. 

Hesina then served a plate of radishes that looked deliciously fried, with some seaweed wraps at the side, all serving to make Shallan look at the food in awe. "I know you don't eat meat, dear. I hope you'll like this." Hesina said, patting Shallan's head.

"I'm never leaving this place." Shallan whispered, making Hesina chuckle.

"Well, it _would_ be nice to have a daughter." Hesina said, laughing when Shallan let out a happy sound.

"These radishes smell amazing and I never thought I'd ever say that." Shallan breathed out, digging in. 

Hesina grinned. "Well, that's nice to hear. Now if you children would excuse me...I need to bring out another workaholic to eat." Hesina said, shaking her head and moving away.

"It's nice to eat some homemade food." Adolin said, chewing away on his portion of bison meat. 

"Where in the name of Shu do you guys get bison meat?" Kaladin asked to Tien, who grinned.

"I get the bison meat. Mom and Dad don't really approve but they can't complain when they get quality bison meat."

"Speaking of which, how did you become a Lightweaver?" Renarin asked, curious. 

Adolin gave him a long-suffering look because seriously, that could have waited _after_ the food, still, Renarin was entitled to his curiosity, and just then as Tien contemplated it, Adolin found himself leaning closer, interested. 

The young Lightweaver munched on a puff before sighing. "Ah, where do I start?"

The other four listened intently, only chewing on their food as Tien started speaking.

"Well, they sent us to fight, the Fire Nation army, I mean. I got attacked, and...I passed out. Next thing I knew, I was talking to some lady who called herself a Lightweaver, and she said that I could join..." Tien swallowed and looked down.

"If I wanted to live another day to see my family."

Kaladin swallowed. "Tien-"

Nobody said what they were thinking. The Lightweavers were assassins. To be roped into something so morbid at such a young age meant Tien had seen more than any of them, and that he had probably earned his fair share of trauma and scars. 

"I don't regret it." Tien said resolutely, fixing Kaladin with a determined gaze. "I _don't_. Being with the Lightweavers probably did a lot more good for me than the scars I earned by being with them. It helps when you're searching for the truth and no one is willing to give it to you."

Shallan blinked, leaning in closer to hear more. 

"If not for them, I wouldn't have had the chance to settle here in Ba Sing Se with Mom and Dad. They were the ones who helped me get our parents to Ba Sing Se. None of us had the resources to get into the Fire Nation palace and rescue you." Tien explained, his gaze a little too guilty when he eyed Kaladin.

Kaladin shook his head. "I don't mind. As long as the three of you were safe." He said softly, hand on Tien's thigh, in a rare gesture of familiarity. 

Tien let out an amused huff. "Of course you didn't mind." 

"Kaladin?"

The five froze at the unexpected voice from the back doorway, and turned, before Kaladin swallowed.

"Father-" Kaladin said with difficulty, getting up unsteadily. 

"Oh, Kal." Lirin breathed out, running over and hugging Kaladin. 

And Kaladin smiled into the embrace even as tears rolled down his cheeks.

His family was alive, bigger and safe. And he couldn't have asked for anything better.

"Father, I-" Kaladin started, but Lirin pulled back and shook his head, his usually stern brown eyes now warm.

"No, son. I know you didn't do anything wrong. You never have. And you won't." Lirin said softly, and Kaladin resisted the urge to cry by biting on his lip. 

* * *

Stories were exchanged, and swapped, and before long, before everyone knew it- the five had to leave.

"I'm coming with you. I may not be a bender, but I can still hold my own." Tien said firmly.

Kaladin swallowed but Adolin clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Tien knows a lot of things we don't. He could be pretty useful, but I'm not asking you to risk his life. I'm the last person who would ask that, all things considered, but try not to argue with him." Adolin murmured, as Kaladin opened his mouth to protest. 

Kaladin then closed his mouth, swallowing. "Agni. Tien, you sure?"

Tien smiled, tossing his dagger into the air and catching it. "Positive. If I could stop a Fire Nation expedition, I think I can help stop the war."

"Our quest is much bigger than that." Kaladin warned.

Tien nodded. "I can see that. But that'll be fine with me than staying here and doing routine scouting. Trust me."

"Welcome on board then." Renarin said, smiling slightly.

"Thanks!" Tien said, cheeks flushed as he grinned. 

Hesina hugged all of them, even Renarin, who blushed at the embrace. When she got to Kaladin however...

"If you let go of that young man, I _will_ disown you." She said casually, and Kaladin blinked, confused.

Hesina eyed Adolin, who was exchanging pleasantries with Lirin, and Kaladin's face would have literally gone up in flames if it could. As it was, a nearby plant got on fire and Shallan immediately extinguished it before giving Kaladin the stink eye. Kaladin for his part sent her a contrite look but the young airbender only huffed. 

" _Mom_!" Kaladin hissed, once he turned to her. 

Hesina patted his cheek.

"Just saying, dear. If I had to look for a wife, or a husband, really- I'd have to find someone with the amount of patience that young man has." Hesina said, dryly.

Kaladin snorted. "Adolin's not even that patient."

Anyone who said Adolin was patient deserved to be dumb, really. Except his own mother of course, but still. Adolin was the _anti_ thesis of patient. They were talking about the same person who froze Amaram, a decorated war general, without thinking twice because he called Kaladin unfit to be the Avatar. 

Like, come on, people, really?

"How about when it comes to you?" Hesina asked, and Kaladin's cheeks flushed again- because his mother was right on a count he had purposefully ignored. Unless it came to the topic of Kaladin, Adolin was excessively hot headed. When it did come to the topic of Kaladin though, a saint would have envied his patience.

Why was that though, Kaladin wondered before his mood darkened. Obviously it was because Adolin had been with him since he had been a snot nosed brat of eleven. For all Kaladin knew, Adolin probably saw him only as a kid anyway. 

"He probably sees me as his little kid brother. And I don't have the time for pursuing a romance anyway." Kaladin said stiffly.

Hesina raised her eyebrows before shaking her head.

Children never really knew much about how life worked anyway, she thought with a fond smile as she pat Kaladin's head. 

* * *

* * *

"So, welcome to the crew, what are we supposed to do? Hey, that rhymed!" Adolin said, punching the air lightly with a grin, as they stood on the woods outside Ba Sing Se. Kaladin and Renarin shared a suffering look while Shallan stared at Adolin. 

Tien looked at Shallan. "You said you wanted to finish Kaladin's airbending there, right? I told you, the Cave of the Two Lovers is an amazing place for practicing your bending. It's the only place not watched by Fire Nation soldiers and it's great because no one looks after it anymore. It's desolate. You can complete Kaladin's airbending training there." Tien explained.

Shallan hummed. "Nice!"

Adolin blinked. "So...say if Kaladin got himself an earthbending teacher-"

Tien smacked his forehead. "Right! You reminded me, I know a friend who's a master earthbender. He won't join you of course,"

"Tien, slow down." Kaladin said, chuckling a little.

Renarin noticed that Tien seemed to cringe a little out of shame, almost...

Almost like Renarin did, whenever his speech became erratic. 

Renarin usually never had to do that with Adolin and their mother- because those two understood him well enough. But with the others on the other hand...Shallan was his friend, yes, but she had difficulty keeping up with him too, and somehow, with Kaladin, you didn't seem to notice because when you talked to Kaladin, the only thing you'd ever notice was Kaladin himself and the guy got caught up in whatever he was talking and thinking that it would require a gentle reminder for him to not do so. 

"It's okay, Tien." Renarin found himself saying and Tien smiled at him out of gratitude, and Renarin couldn't not return that smile.

"Okay then. Anyways, so. We can just go there and bend and Adolin can teach me a little about sword fighting, because honestly- you're the best swordsman in all four countries! And I'd love it if Renarin helped me fend off firebending, you know, just in case?" Tien asked, looking hopefully at the two brothers.

Adolin agreed, a pleased blush dusting his face while Renarin nodded, surprised and gratified. 

Tien grinned. "We got ourselves a plan, then." 

* * *

Unfortunately, they got themselves a ruined plan.

Everything had gone well, until...until they got a little further into the cave.

"So, is there a map or something for this place?" Shallan asked, as Renarin and Kaladin lit up the cave using their firebending.

Tien shook his head. "Roughly navigated. The Lightweavers managed to create a rudimentary map system, but trust me, we always get out fine." He said, flashing her a thumbs up.

Shallan cupped her chin thoughtfully but then shrugged. "Eh."

"The specialty of this place is, the badgermoles keep earthbending so that shifts the tunnels. We can get lost here, but if you just follow my lead-"

A tunnel shifted itself and wedged a path with Adolin and Kaladin on one side, while the other three got trapped on the other. Syl whined from Kaladin's pocket while everyone tried to hold on something solid, so that they wouldn't get caved in too.

"It's a cave in! Everyone get down for cover!" Tien shouted in panic. 

And then, the cave was shrouded in darkness.

* * *

"Flying fire ferrets! What just happened?" Shallan shrieked, hand to chest as she leaned against the wall and started breathing heavily.

"You said this wasn't supposed to happen. Then what?" Renarin asked calmly, and his calm voice served to make Shallan and Tien feel better but only a bit. 

Tien's face was pale under the light of Renarin's flames. "I don't know! But that was _not_ the badgermoles." Tien breathed out, collapsing on his backside on a rock.

Renarin swallowed. "What was it then? What do you think it was?" He asked, gently but firmly.

It was Shallan who answered.

"Tien was right. That cave in seemed deliberate. I could feel chi woven into that." Shallan said, quietly. 

Renarin widened his eyes and Tien only held his head in his hands, as the implications of that particularly ominous statement sunk in. 

"What next?" Tien asked, voice hushed.

"We find a way out." Renarin said, firmly, because cave ins were the least of his problems. He had dealt with worse than this and had seen worse. If this cave was about to behave like a maddening labyrinth, fine.

Renarin wouldn't stand for it anyway.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd ask for the guys who actually like this to look forward to the next one, hehe


	12. Achingly Tender

"Adolin, please stop freezing the wall." Kaladin said, tired.

Adolin did not listen, and instead kept on freezing the wall, punching it repeatedly.

"Adolin."

Sounds of fists cracking ice filled Kaladin's ears, followed by the dripping of blood on the ground. 

"There..... _has_ to be a way out. The stupid wall.... _has_ to stop....regenerating....after a....while." Adolin rasped out, panting as his voice came out in a ragged, harsh breath. 

"Clearly it isn't stopping. We have to try navigating our way out of this." Kaladin said calmly, earning him a glare from the older teenager. 

"I can sense earthbending behind this. Someone's chi is _all_ over this damned wall." Adolin growled out, forcefully smacking a fist against the wall to support himself. The sound of his fist hitting the wall echoed all over, causing Kaladin to flinch slightly. 

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Kaladin said, before getting up from the rock he was sitting on and helping his friend stand up. Raising his hand from a height, water sprung out of Adolin's water skin and enveloped his fists, and Kaladin then covered Adolin's bleeding fists with both his palms, causing the water to seep in on the wounds and a warm blue light to emanate out of the wounds, before it finally dissipated. 

"Besides, considering what you just said, you can't go around injured. We may have to be ready for a fight." Kaladin reprimanded him, giving him a stern look.

Adolin sighed. "I know. But...I'm just mad." He admitted, gritting his jaw. 

"Me too, but we can't afford to spend our time feeling mad. Let's go." Kaladin said reasonably, holding out a hand.

* * *

"Do any of these tunnels look familiar?" Renarin asked, acting as a human torch, considering how dark the cave was.

Tien swallowed. "Faintly. These tunnels look new."

Shallan sighed loudly. "Oh, boy."

"I'm sorry." Tien said, voice small.

Shallan blinked. "What? No, I'm not blaming you!" She said, eyes wide as she raised her hands in denial. 

Tien smiled bitterly. "You should anyway."

"We're not going to waste time blaming anyone. Besides, Shallan sensed that the cave-in was deliberate. You couldn't have expected that." Renarin said, facing Tien directly. Shallan nodded, her eyes sincere. 

Tien swallowed again. "...All right."

Renarin nodded. "Lead the way then."

"Right. I can do this." Tien said, inhaling deeply before taking the lead.

"So...Anything we need to bring out our bending for?" Shallan asked, walking beside Tien.

Tien inhaled again, steadying himself before answering. "Yeah. Like I said, badgermoles. And tons of wolfbats-"

Renarin blinked. "Wolfbats?"

Tien nodded. "They're scared by fire, so nothing much to worry about." He said, managing a smile to lighten the mood. And to reassure himself, but no one really needed to know that. It would be much easier to paste on a smile on the world, and Tien found that out the hard way. 

Renarin nodded while Shallan managed to smile herself. "Good thing we have a hundred and fifteen pounds of fire, then."

Renarin cocked an eyebrow and fighting a smile, if the way his lips twitched was any indication while Shallan grinned cheekily, her smile also more genuine, and suddenly, just like that, the smile on Tien's face was easier to bear and if the flames from Renarin's hands were just a little warmer, then it was not spoken of. 

* * *

"This is nuts." Adolin said bluntly, as Kaladin scared away the latest wolfbat pack with a flaming punch. 

It ran away screaming, a thing Adolin really, really wanted to do right now. Except he could do only one of the two- either scream in agony or run madly. 

"You getting the memo just now?" Kaladin asked dryly, eyebrows raised.

Adolin exhaled. "I got the memo back when my father twisted my leg. And I got repeated reminders of it for the whole journey."

Kaladin shook his head. "You could have done without them. You don't really deserve it."

Adolin ignored him flippantly, walking forward. It seemed that he aggressively put more emphasis on the fact that he belonged to the Water Tribe these days- his tunic was long and blue, reaching up to the knees, and his mother's chain kept making sounds from its comfortable position at the ends of Adolin's tunic as it hit the metal clinks on his breeches while his boots had the symbol of the Water Tribe on the parts covering the ankles. The thing was, he had seemed a little too standoffish and cold, lately. He didn't seem as responsive and cheerful, not truly, ever since Kaladin had met his family.

Or was Kaladin overthinking this, as usual? 

"Anything wrong?" Kaladin asked, following his friend.

"Anything right?" Adolin asked, with a wry smile.

Kaladin rolled his eyes. "No. But _you_ seem kind of out of it."

Adolin shrugged. "I don't know, I think the flying in the morning took all the wind out of me, if you get my drift."

Syl looked at Adolin curiously, and she looked up to Kaladin as if to say _'nope, don't buy it!'._

"Let's just get going." Adolin said, and Kaladin swallowed, wondering why he felt like he had said the wrong thing. 

The real trouble in the entirety of his nineteen years began for Adolin when they came to a stone paifang gate.

"What the- a gate? Is that supposed to be here?" Kaladin asked, frowning.

Adolin slowly shook his head, swinging the door open tentatively. Once nothing had happened, he went inside, Kaladin following.

They found themselves in an enormous room, the sides decorated with several statues that held no meaning for either Kaladin or Adolin, and a large staircase was at the end.

Adolin exchanged a look with Kaladin. "Shall we?"

"After you." Kaladin said, nodding.

Adolin nodded and hurried down the staircase, widening his eyes when he saw what it was.

There was a pair of two round tables, on each of which, a large sarcophagus rested and Adolin swallowed, looking at the graves of Oma and Shu. 

"Well. We came to a definitive point all right." Adolin said, voice steady.

Kaladin frowned- Adolin had no idea how a teenager could look so good frowning of all the nonsense. Or was he that gone for Kaladin, already, that whatever the other did he found it pleasing? That was a symptom of someone being foolishly in love, but Adolin didn't want to accept it. 

He wasn't....he wasn't going to resign himself to the same fate of his mother, stuck loving someone who would never love them back- though Kaladin was a far, far better man than his father. He didn't want to, spirits, it sounded and felt so painful. 

So painful, that he was ripping himself away at the seams. And mentally creating poetry. Neither of which bespoke sanity, or at least the poetry thing most certainly did not radiate sanity, in Adolin's case. 

The thing was, Adolin had a lot of time to reflect lately. The warmth in his chest whenever he saw the other, the way his cheeks automatically curved into a smile seeing the other, and every other damn sappy nonsense Adolin's girlfriends (and the occasional boyfriend or two but who was counting) had invested time in telling him?

How had this even happened to Adolin anyway? The guy had been a child when they had met, spirits! And _he_ was bad at relationships- _wasn't that the reason he had foregone his growing feelings in the first place?!_

"Adolin?" Kaladin asked, his voice tinged with alarm.

Adolin started, before realizing that his fists were clenched and that ice had started dripping from them.

"What is going on with you?" Kaladin asked, brown eyes shining with concern as he stepped closer.

"Nothing." Adolin breathed out, in an effort to feign calm, before instantly feeling guilty and marching over to the base. 

"We're here at the Tomb of the Two Lovers. That means we're here at the center of this labyrinth-"

"I don't care a _damn_ about that, what's with _you_ lately?" Kaladin shouted, and Adolin screwed his eyes shut, hoping that not seeing Kaladin's face would help him avoid the hurt in the younger's voice.

It didn't, of course.

He had hoped Kaladin wouldn't notice that he had been less than cheerful lately....and at the same time, he had. 

"Absolutely nothing. Do you want to get out of here or not?" Adolin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kaladin gave him a look telling him that this discussion was not finished. Adolin _hated_ that look and he only sighed as Kaladin folded his arms.

"Fine. Where are we? The center?"

Adolin nodded. "Yeah. So we got a reference point...and what's this?" He asked, frowning at some engravings on the walls not covered by the statues. 

Kaladin held his burning hand closer, casting light on the engravings- which actually turned out to be paintings. Of Oma and Shu, and remembering their tale causes Adolin to swallow.

"You showed me this play once, right?" Kaladin asked, voice curious as he moved his hand to show light on the other paintings, depicting scenes of Oma and Shu's love for each other.

Adolin nodded. "Yeah. You didn't like it very much though." He says, the first instances of genuine humor seeping into his voice.

Kaladin blinked. "How'd you know that?"

Adolin snorted. "You may have told me it was a nice play, but I could see that you didn't like it very much. Love isn't really something you were cool about, back then." 

Kaladin blinks, and Adolin doesn't see his expression, which consisted of hurt. "Romantic love, anyway. It's not your thing. I get that." Adolin continues with a chuckle that suddenly exhausts him, as he traces the paintings, as if trying to engrave them into his memory. 

"I never told you that." Kaladin says, and Adolin doesn't have to look at him to know he's frowning.

"Well, you did tell us that you didn't have the time for it." Adolin said absently, finding himself envying Oma and Shu.

How was it that they knew they were in love, for this person that they saw? And if they were in love, that meant they must have sought and earned happiness from each other's presence, right? How did one know all of that, Adolin wondered, the smile on his face dimming. 

"Yeah, I did say that. Doesn't mean I haven't...thought about it." Kaladin says, strangely defensive but Adolin doesn't heed it. 

"Well, good for you, Kal." Adolin says, without looking at him so that it is easier not to drown in the implications of that statement, instead losing himself to thoughts of the two lovers.

"Good for me? What is that supposed to mean?"

Adolin only sighs. "It means, I think that it's nice you're giving yourself time to think about a special someone." 

And really, Adolin may not be happy that it isn't him, and that never really did matter in the end, but he is genuinely happy to think that Kaladin has been thinking about someone with happiness. He can be unselfish enough to think that, because...Because it was true. Kaladin being happy...Adolin would pay his life to see it occur for as long as possible. 

Even if he had no role to play in it, as much as he would like to, and his heart aches, just a little. 

"Don't you want to...ask me who it is? Or was? You're usually interested in that kind of stuff." Kaladin asked, sounding slightly suspicious and also confused.

"Well, you don't want to tell me that, right? It's okay, Kal, I get it." Adolin says, sighing. Why won't Kaladin leave him alone? Why does he have to pour salt more and more on top of that wound? 

Why couldn't have Adolin fallen for someone else? It would have been easier, so much easier, but no. Love didn't like anything easy, Adolin guessed with a sinking of his stomach. Love was ruthless, cruel and enforcing. And in this case, it had enforced Adolin to fall for the most perfect being in existence. Literally. 

Kaladin only sighed. 

Oma and Shu, in this particular painting that he's interested in, are just embracing each other, and Adolin sighs. "Well, time to look for a way out I guess." 

"That happens to be your mother's favorite tale, right?" Kaladin asked, voice strangely quiet.

Adolin nodded, smiling in bemusement. He didn't expect Kaladin to have remembered that. "Uh. Yeah. How do you know?"

"You told me." Kaladin said with a grunt. 

Adolin blinked, the air suddenly thick with something he can't recognize. He only chooses to clear his throat and ignore it. 

He walks over to the base of the stone, beckoning Kaladin over so that he can see it more clearly. There are even more paintings, and a story depicting their love. Adolin's heard it a hundred times before, anyway. He then looks up, and then blanches at the sight- there's a large statue of Oma and Shu kissing. 

"Well. Earth Kingdom people are secretly romantic, eh." Adolin says, and Kaladin looks at the statue with interest.

"Hey, look at this." Kaladin says, pointing at a...carved tablet, bearing an inscription.

"Does it say something?" Adolin asks, following his friend as he runs over to said tablet.

"Yeah." Kaladin then frowns. 

"It says something weird. Like...love is brightest in the dark." Kaladin continues, frowning at Adolin.

Adolin himself blinks. "Well, I don't remember anything in the story about love brightening their nights or something..." He scratches his head, and then looks up at the statue of Oma and Shu who look very happy in their eternal position of kissing each other. 

Adolin can't say he's felt that happy kissing someone. And he's kissed his fair share of someones. Even when having kissed his first someone, he wasn't that happy. Just excited that he got his first kiss finally. Pleased, yes. Excited, yes. Horny, yes. But _happy_? That wasn't really possible from _kissing_ , right?

 _Would it be possible if he kissed Kaladin?_ And Adolin shuts down the idle thought, because Kaladin wasn't interested in him anyways, and he can only hope his friend will find it out for himself.

"Well, they're obviously talking about romantic love- which I am not supposed to know anything about, so there." Kaladin said, almost looking bored.

Adolin notices Kaladin's strange expression, blinking at him. "What?"

Kaladin shrugged. "Well, I think it's a way out, but I'm not really sure what it's saying. Love isn't my thing, really." 

"I didn't say that you weren't supposed to know anything about romantic love." Adolin says, tired as he runs a hand through his hair. 

"I didn't say anything."

Adolin gives him a look, and Kaladin shrugs again.

"Just like you haven't been behaving weirdly for the past two hours and continuing to smile like nothing's wrong with you."

Adolin feels ticked, and as a result, his fist unconsciously clenches. What does Kaladin know of what's been in his brain? "Look, I'm sorry, but it really was nothing."

"Nothing? You were uncomfortable about something and it was clear as day!" Kaladin says in disbelief, the flames in his hand burning brighter.

"It really was nothing. But what's your problem?" Adolin asks, kicking himself for ever having been irritated for no reason. Spirits, why did he have to be such a mess?

"Nothing." Kaladin says simply. 

They glare at each other, and Kaladin is the first to realize that the glaring is not leading them anywhere. He runs his free hand through his hair, sighing.

"Listen, Adolin, I thought...I thought you....trusted me. At the very least." He says quietly, and Adolin feels like he got punched to the gut. Like, sucker punched. And this is entirely too serious for Adolin to be using the phrase 'sucker punch' but what else can he do?

"You don't get to _say_ that." Adolin whispers out, voice strangled.

"And why not?" Kaladin asks, eyes flaring up and taking a casual step forward as if challenged.

"Because nothing's ever wrong with me, okay? Seriously, there's nothing to worry about-"

"Why can't you let me help you? It's obvious something's been bothering you ever since we came here to this cave, what in _blazes_ is it? Or do you really think I wouldn't notice?" Kaladin asks, looking bewildered.

"It's not something you can help me with, Kal. I already told you, you can't save everyone." 

Somehow, Kaladin's flames seem to dim and the air in the room is definitely more hostile. But the hostility isn't coming from Kaladin however. 

It somehow is in the very air of the room, and Adolin shivers slightly, stiffening.

"Why can't I try to just listen the one person close to me then?" Kaladin asks, his voice very soft, no louder than a whisper and achingly tender.

"There's nothing to listen to." Adolin said, swallowing.

"I feel like there is. But...but you know you can tell me, right? I _will_ listen to you, if there's anything you want to tell me." Kaladin said, gently placing the not-burning hand on Adolin's shoulder. 

Adolin swallows. If only...

He then smiles instead, because that's the one thing he's good at. Smiling and looking pretty as a picture.

"Sure, Kal. Thanks." Adolin says, and Kaladin smiles back, and it should not have warmed him as much as it did.

His hands feel cold again.

"Hey, no problem. Let's just figure out a way to get out of here-"

"And that will be impossible, Avatar." Came a deep voice from behind them. 

* * *

Shallan, Tien decided, was _amazing_.

"You're drawing the tunnels as we keep going?" Renarin asked, confused.

Tien himself had only noticed when Renarin pointed it out, and once pointed out, he jumped, staring as Shallan studiously sketched out something on her notebook with a dizzying focus of concentration. 

"When did you get your drawing materials?" Tien asked, amazed.

Shallan snorted. "I always have my sketchbook and brush with me. Boys and your toys."

Tien and Renarin exchanged a dubious look before peeking at Shallan's sketches.

Shallan nodded to herself, as she sketched the latest one. "Yeah. It seems to form a pattern, for some strange reason...I think we can crack it if we go further enough. I'm not sure though."

Tien felt heartened, and a lightening of hope. "Really? There's a pattern?"

Shallan nodded. "Three tunnels eastward, four southward, then seven northward before two tunnels descend to the west-"

Tien and Renarin stared at each other, silently in awe of Shallan's geographic sense.

"Then three east, four southward again. I think if we go through the next...nine, I might be able to confirm it and scale this whole cave." Shallan said, grinning at the awestruck looks on their faces.

"Scale the whole cave?" Renarin asked, gaping.

Shallan nodded, grin cheekier. "Yep! It's easy geography and cartography!"

Tien swatted Shallan's arm. "Shut up!"

Shallan winked. "Can't stop, won't stop."

Tien laughed, and just like that the other two started chortling as well- and for a moment, they forgot they were stuck in a cave with no way out. 

* * *

Kaladin and Adolin froze, getting up and turning back to face the speaker.

A chill ran down Kaladin's back.

The speaker had the shape of a human but looked nothing like one- they were large, bulky and powerfully stout, with patterned dark carapace forming their skin. An additional armor-like carapace, orange in color, was present over most of the skin, and lightning crackled from their fingers.

"We listeners manipulate this cave. And as for getting out even when we control it..." The listener smiled sardonically. "It will require a skill not inherent in the hearts of humans, as you, Avatar, should know." 

"Why?" Kaladin asked, narrowing his eyes.

The listener smiled humorlessly. "You, Avatar, were the one who hauled us all and destroyed us by leaving us at the mercy of Koh, and then you sacrificed your soul and mind, hoping it would work. We only experienced agony and anguish like nothing experienced before. So when the ruler of earth told us he knew of the Avatar's whereabouts...who were we to pass up a chance at salvation?"

Kaladin snarled low under his breath, the sound chilling. "Taravangian."

"He did not want to betray you." The listener said, amused.

"Small comfort." Kaladin growled, his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Whatever it is. You're not coming here to resolve this peacefully, are you?" Adolin asked, ice hissing out from his hands. 

The ground around the listener rumbled and shook.

"Of course not, son of water." 


	13. A Tremulous Earnestness

"We are _not_ supposed to get our butts kicked this badly," Adolin grumbled, panting heavily after having received a stone slab to the stomach, clutching said stomach as he glared at their adversary.

Earthbenders weren't always this strong, and Adolin could sense something wrong about this listener's chi. Something so wrong that his knees shook every time his body was hit with this chi. 

"You humans always like to presume, don't you?" The listener asked calmly, before sending a boulder towards Kaladin, who cut it in two by bending a gust of wind. 

" _You_ presumed that I'd go down without a complaint, how are you any different?" Kaladin asked sardonically, panting as well.

"Because we deserve it." The listener said, slamming their palms on the ground, sending a charged shock wave all over.

Adolin jumped up and landed on a plate of ice hovering just before the ground as sparks flew everywhere while Kaladin back-flipped and propelled himself towards the other end of the cave with bursts of flames on his feet, sticking his feet to the wall using a burst of air and watching their opponent warily. 

The listener however, kept their palms to the ground, and charges still flew over. Adolin grimaced, considering ice could conduct electricity and bent a stream of water from his water skin, freezing it and sliding far away from the sparks as he could while Kaladin still watched their opponent, eyes narrowed.

"You got a plan or do I have to play hide and seek with our friend over here?!" Adolin yelled. The listener looked at him, and Adolin found his opening just as he slid his way on his makeshift ice ramp.

Kicking the listener a few feet away in the face, and thereby disrupting the bending, Adolin landed on his feet and palms, panting again. 

"You took care of it, I think?" Kaladin asked sardonically, landing on the ground from the wall. 

"That was a tough one, that's for sure." Adolin said, standing up. 

The listener got up with a pained grunt and growled, before bending a huge slab of stone towards Adolin's way, who cut it up with a particularly sharp piece of ice, grinning. 

The listener blinked, confused at Adolin's mirth, before finding themselves hit with a huge bolt of lightning and falling down, smoke arising from their body while Kaladin stood behind, his hand crackling with lightning. 

"That should take care of you." Kaladin said casually, rubbing his hands and then turning the listener over to face him, kneeling down on one knee to talk to them eye to eye. 

"I think it's best you calm down, and let me help you." Kaladin said, calmly. 

The listener snarled in his face. Adolin winced but made no move. This was the Avatar's duty and he couldn't possibly interfere. 

"You can't earn salvation from killing me." Kaladin said quietly, as if nothing happened. 

The listener groaned from pain, and Kaladin frowned at the bruise forming on their face before sighing. 

"Lie down. I can heal you." Kaladin said gently. 

"Do not think I will be convinced by a traitor." The listener hissed darkly. 

Adolin raised an eyebrow. _Traitor?_

"I don't intend on being a traitor. But neither will I stand aside and let you pummel me. Will you lie down and let me heal you?" Kaladin asked, staring at the listener intently. 

The listener must have realized talking to Kaladin was the same as talking to a rock, and then sighed before lying down, glaring at Kaladin. 

Kaladin smiled, but it lacked any humor. "That wasn't so hard." He said, before his hands glowed blue. He placed his hands on the bruise, and the listener watched curiously as the light in his hands glowed. 

"Your healing skills are improving." Adolin said, kneeling down himself with an approving air. 

Kaladin blinked, flushing slightly even as he worked on the listener's injuries. "Thanks. I had a good teacher...even though I wasn't that great of a student at first." 

_"Intent. It's the most important thing in healing. Watch." Adolin said, before kneeling down to the injured bird and placing a wet hand on it._

_His hand glowed blue and Kaladin watched in fascination as the bird slowly stood straight, and then before he knew it, Adolin had withdrawn his hand and the bird was flying around before landing on the waterbender's shoulder, chirping happily._

_Adolin laughed at it. "Don't fall from trees, buddy. You might not get healed next time." He said, before letting the bird jump on to his hand and watching as it flew away._

_The sight made Kaladin feel warm with something he couldn't recognize._

_"So I have to really wish for it? The healing?" Kaladin asked, frowning._

_Adolin nodded, now sobering up slightly._

_"Technically, you_ could _be a good healer. But if you doubt yourself or if you don't put your all into the healing, it may not work as well as you originally thought." He explained, a faraway look in his eyes._

Adolin chuckled, feeling half warm himself. "Good teacher or not, you're doing pretty well." 

"You were his teacher?" The listener asked, a sing song quality now highly prevalent in their speech, to a beat Adolin couldn't place. 

Adolin startled before nodding. "Uh. For waterbending. Wait, why are you asking me that anyway? Don't you hate us?" 

The listener smiled ruefully. "I hate what has been done to us, son of water. Sometimes that hatred overtakes me...but other times, when it is not so strong, I remember," the listener's marble black eyes softened, now nostalgic, as their words were spoken along to a quiet, contemplative flowing beat. 

Kaladin widened his eyes, before shooting a hopeful look to Adolin then listening to the listener. 

"I remember a time when humans would listen to us in awe. When...humans did not hunt us down. When you invented." The listener said. Kaladin withdrew his hands, and the listener looked down at themselves in surprise. 

"You did heal me." 

Kaladin nodded. "As I said I would." He said, strangely not offended. 

"Why did you do what you did?" The listener asked, swallowing as their eyes showed hurt. 

Kaladin blinked, his brown eyes suddenly out of focus before he jerked backwards, blinking in surprise again. His eyes were wide, just before a gust of wind surrounded him so thickly that it was impossible to see him. 

Adolin swallowed, watching the whole thing in surprise before widening his eyes again as the gust cleared. 

Standing before them, was a figure Adolin had only heard of in legends. 

Avatar Talenel. 

* * *

"Scaling this is a gigantic pain in the butt!" Shallan growled, even as she sketched away furiously. 

Tien and Renarin exchanged an alarmed look. 

"Shallan, really, you don't have to..." 

"Well, we need to find a way out, don't we? This whole place is a gigantic labyrinth, and your senses are accurate, but only to an extent. We need something more." Shallan said, even as Renarin kicked away an incoming wolfbat with a flaming leg. 

Tien pursed his lips, worried. "But you're stressed, and really, we can find a way out. You don't have to push yourself." 

Shallan smiled, strangely rueful. "Well, I can't sit around on my butt waiting for a handsome man to save me, now. I need to start pulling my weight a little." She said, her expression softening. 

"You're pulling a lot of it. You don't have to worry." Renarin said, eyes earnest. 

Shallan sighed, but the smile didn't leave. "Thank you. But trust me, we'll get out of here and I want to help with that. Now..." her expression became that of focus again. 

"Thirty more tunnels and we should be at least halfway close to the exit..." 

Tien stared, gobsmacked while Renarin gaped. 

" _Seriously_?!" The two let out, surprised. 

Shallan smirked, tossing her hair back a little. 

"What did I say? Trust me." She said, her smirk a little too reminiscent of Kaladin; cocksure, firm, solid. 

* * *

"Hello there." Talenel said, with a sad smile. 

Adolin couldn't help but notice that out of all of the Avatars he had seen, Talenel resembled Kaladin the most. It was easy to see how the Avatar was a single person with different souls. 

"You." The listener said, amazed and furious all at once. 

"Eshonai. I am most sorry to you, little one." Talenel said gently, kneeling down to meet her. 

"You enslaved us." Eshonai growled out, hurt and trembling. 

Adolin only watched with wide eyes. 

"I was foolish. I did not see what it is I was supposed to do. I thought that only humankind must be saved. But Eshonai...believe in the person I am today. He has more compassion than the listeners give humans credit for. Please. Believe in him." Talenel said, his deep voice slow as he bowed his head low in regret. 

Eshonai swallowed. "Why should I listen to you?" 

Talenel's smile was sorrowful. 

"Because man makes mistakes. And when he sees them, he only wishes to amend them. That, is the defining character of a human. I beg you, to listen to him, Eshonai. Ask your family to stay their wrath as he understands you." Talenel said, gently. 

Eshonai opened their mouth to scream again, but the gust of wind surrounded Talenel again, and it cleared to show a clearly exhausted Kaladin. 

Adolin ran over to catch him, and Kaladin groaned as he fell backward on Adolin's arms. 

"I seriously hate that." Kaladin grumbled. 

Adolin smiled awkwardly. "Can't blame you." 

"I'm not letting them possess my body again." Kaladin grumbled again, before righting himself and looking at Eshonai. 

Eshonai only stared at Kaladin in bland disbelief, eyes blinking.

"What happened?" Kaladin asked, looking up at Adolin from his position on the ground- before realizing that their faces were entirely too close for comfort. 

He made to move away slightly, upon seeing the same realization on the other's face, but for some reason, couldn't move away at all. 

"Uh." 

Adolin smelled nice as usual...and it was not the time to be thinking about the cologne he used, spirits. Nor was it the time to look at his mouth. 

"You kinda asked...Eshonai, was it?" Eshonai only nodded in bemusement. "To believe in you. And you um, gave a rather impressive monologue on the nature of mankind."

Eshonai only nodded again, frowning. 

Kaladin blinked, relieved when he looked away and scooted himself further from Adolin. That had been too close for comfort. Too close. 

He then looked at the statue of Oma and Shu behind Eshonai, almost feeling...disapproval from them, and he shuddered imperceptibly before looking at the listener.

"If I asked you to believe in me, I...I would ask you to do so. I don't intend on doing the same mistake as my predecessors." Kaladin said quietly, holding Eshonai's gaze.

Eshonai swallowed. "And how am I expected to believe that? When so many of my comrades' corpses are on your hands?"

Kaladin bowed his head but there was a strength to it. He didn't remove his gaze from Eshonai's. "I, of all people, know that honor is dead. But I _will_ see what I can do." He said, kneeling down.

* * *

Eshonai widened her eyes.

This Avatar...there was an undeniable storm in his eyes. 

She could see it. She could see that he meant to do as he said. This man...This soul...he would not rest until he did as he said.

But how would she say that to Venli? Thude? Rlain? The others? 

The gods inside her were screaming denial, but Eshonai swallowed as the Avatar held her hand.

"I give you my word, Eshonai. Please."

Eshonai inhaled, feeling the Rhythm of Awe well up, feeling her soul beat to it and she stopped breathing, as if stunned.

The Avatars of the old.... _their souls had not attuned to those of listeners like this..._ not with this frightening intensity. This man's words held no tune, no rhythm, but his soul did- it sung of determination, justice and honor, and she could not deny the effect his soul was having on hers. 

No soul of the previous Avatars had caused the rhythms well up in someone on their own before. 

_What does this mean?_ Eshonai wondered, even as the voice of the god screamed inside her.

And then she knew, with a startling certainty, that this man would save them all. 

"I believe you." She whispered, and the Avatar nodded, with a tremulous earnestness to him. 

"Thank you, Eshonai." 

"Okay, so could you tell us how to get out of this cave?" The son of water asked, hand on hip as he stared at the two of them, unimpressed.

Eshonai looked between the Avatar and his teacher, before smiling as the former let go of her hand. "It would require you to read what the first children of earth have written on their tomb. And to decipher it. It is a thing of humans entirely. Something we believed they could not understand, but something of theirs that could leave the world shaking."

The son of water scratched his head. "Uh...sure."

Eshonai let out an exhale of amusement. "You will understand."

* * *

Adolin did not, in fact, understand and only felt annoyed at the cryptic nature of the statement.

"I will leave. And do what I can to prevent an attack from the others, but it will be difficult. You can and will get attacked.- they use your spiritual presence in the Spirit World to track you." Eshonai said, staring at Kaladin.

Kaladin nodded. "That's fine by me. Just do what you can. That will be more than enough." He said, sincerely. 

Eshonai nodded, getting up gingerly.

"How are you going to get out of here?" Adolin asked, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

Eshonai turned to look at him. "My ancestors and my gods have helped oversee the creation of this labyrinth. I can follow the path laid out by our gods."

"Any chance we can use that path?" But Adolin already knew the answer to that one.

Eshonai shook their head. "It would be grievous peril for you. Should the gods know that you are trespassing on their path, they will not leave you alive. No. You must follow the path laid out by your own ancestors. That will help you." 

Adolin barely resisted the urge to stomp his foot on the ground in frustration, and then sighed, nodding. "Thank you."

Eshonai nodded at him and as well as Kaladin, before leaving. 

Adolin looked at Kaladin. "Well, that one was very informative. I suppose we're supposed to make use of what they said, 'love is brightest in the darkness'?" 

Kaladin nodded, deep in thought. "I think it means what it says." He then paled at that statement, before turning to look at Adolin quickly, and then resumed to staring back at the ground.

Adolin rolled his eyes. "So descriptive."

Kaladin scratched his head, his face a little redder than usual. "Well....you won't like it, I'm thinking."

Adolin sighed. "I want to get out of here, Kal. I don't really care what I have to do in order to do that. And besides, this is the cave of two lovers- how bad can it be?"

Kaladin cringed. "Pretty bad for you." He said, looking embarrassed. 

Adolin exhaled. "Kaladin, I'd like to think of you as one of the closest friends I've ever had- but if you don't spit it out and tell me what we have to do, I will not think twice about freezing your butt and leaving you here." 

Kaladin gave him the stink eye in response to that. "Ha ha. Very funny. So tell me," 

Adolin blinked, as Kaladin turned to face him fully, brown eyes narrowed and focused on him in a way that made him stiffen slightly.

 _What in the name of Tui?_ Adolin thought, swallowing unconsciously. 

"You see what Oma and Shu are doing, over there?" Kaladin asked blandly, but his eyes hardly ever left Adolin even as he pointed at the statue behind them. 

Adolin craned his neck backward to look, blinking at the statue of the two lovers kissing before giving his friend a confused look, trying not to think too much about the way Kaladin's eyes were on him. 

"Uh...kind of hard not to."

"Why do you think they're doing that?" Kaladin asked, calmly.

Adolin laughed nervously. "Uh. They're in love?"

"Their love was what allowed them to get in and out of this huge cave," Kaladin stood up, hand alight with a flame as he frowned at the statue. 

"Their families certainly had no love for anyone. That's why they died so..." 

It hit Adolin like a boulder.

If they had to get out of here...they'd have to play by Oma and Shu's philosophy....and emulate the stupid statue. 

He glared at the statue. _Spirits, you had to force me to this, didn't you?_

He swallowed as he looked at Kaladin, who looked equally annoyed, though his eyes softened when he felt Adolin's gaze on him.

"Like I said...this might be pretty awkward for you." Kaladin said, swallowing, his throat bobbing with the movement.

Adolin raised an eyebrow. "What gave you that impression?" 

Kaladin blinked. "I mean..." he chuckled, but the sound was humorless as he turned away, seemingly casual. "I'm the annoying kid who you practically raised since I was eleven. I'm _pretty_ sure this is awkward for you."

"I haven't seen you as a child for quite a while." Adolin said quietly. 

Kaladin froze, looking at Adolin, and he wondered- he could hear his heart beat, right? Just him? Not the other?

Because that would be pretty embarrassing...kinda like that particular dream he hoped no one would ever learn of...and sweat just dripped down from his neck. He breathed out, stretching the collar of his tunic a little further away and flapped the lapel with a whistle he hoped didn't sound as crazy as his brain did. 

"I don't know where you got that ridiculous idea from, but I haven't seen you as a brat for a while now. Not since...I don't remember when. Probably two years back." Adolin continued, clearing his throat at the end. 

"Really?" Kaladin asked, voice low. 

"Yeah. I...I-"

Adolin cleared his throat again, coughing into his fist- spirits, he wasn't supposed to get _this_ tongue-tied, but by Tui and La, what was he meant to do, he thought desperately, under that intense gaze-

"What then?"

_What do you see me as?_

"As someone...someone who deserves far better than me." Adolin says, smiling at Kaladin, even though the words ripped him apart, caused a hole within him.

Kaladin blinked, absolutely befuddled. " _What?_ "

Adolin smiled, even though it hurt, and he just shrugged. "I...I may...I may have liked seeing you happy a bit too much, Kal. I don't think I can give you that, but I'd like it, if you were happy with a person who could make you happy-"

"And what if I wanted to settle for you, Adolin? What then?" Kaladin asked, eyes flashing as he came one step closer.

"You shouldn't have to." Adolin whispered, swallowing again. 

"And yet I want to." Kaladin murmured.

What could he say to that?

Spirits, what could anyone say to that?

"Quick question, is this not awkward for you?" Adolin asked, gulping at the glint in his friend's eyes. 

"When you want something and you go for it, is that awkward?" Kaladin asked, quirking an eyebrow in question.

Adolin stared. Again, what in spirits was he supposed to say to that?

It didn't take him long to realize what this aggravating ass was saying-

"I was scared. What's your excuse?" Adolin asked, slowly grabbing the lapels of Kaladin's tunic, _red, red as the fire that burnt in him_ and bringing him down.

"I was scared, too." Kaladin whispered, eyes tender as the flames in his hand went out, darkening the cave.

He held Adolin's face, kissing him. 

* * *

Shallan just stepped out of the cave, helped down by Renarin, and right there at that second- the cave lit up.

The three youngsters shared looks of befuddlement, before Tien stared. 

The other two stared as well, blinking. 

"Those lights weren't really supposed to happen. Were they always there?" Renarin asked, scratching his head.

Tien shook his head. "I don't remember seeing any lights on our way out...Shallan?"

Shallan looked equally confused. "Nope. Just as much as in the dark as you guys are. Thought technically, we're not really in the dark anymore..."

Renarin and Tien exchanged a suffering look. 

* * *

"We kinda need to get out, Kal. There are lights. Kal, are you even listening?" Adolin murmured into the other's lips, pulling back. 

Kaladin blinked, flushed as he let go of Adolin who grinned at him with swollen lips. 

"Right. Of course. Uh, we-"

"We're a thing. Don't worry." Adolin said, laughing before blinking and sighing. "We might need to wait a little before we tell the other three, though."

Kaladin blinked, before grimacing. "Yeah, you're right about that." 

The thing is, Kaladin has absolutely nothing against the other three. Absolutely not. By Agni, Kaladin's grown fond of Shallan and Renarin- Shallan is the caring, if not bratty younger sister he never thought he would want but still wanted anyway, she reminds him a lot of Tien and she understands him...when not being bratty. 

Renarin is a good friend, a good comrade and Kaladin respects him for charging into a temple full of Skybreakers- that kind of bravery had to be respected. And Tien...Tien is his little brother. The little brother who spurred him on as a child, the little brother he had lost and the little brother he would love, no matter what. 

But....Kaladin himself is only just figuring out the depths of this bond, this relationship with Adolin- he doesn't want three snotty brats (yes. Renarin too. Why no one ever realized Renarin was in fact a snotty brat was beyond Kaladin) making fun of him in this new, frightening development.

He looks at Adolin, bright blue eyes shining with joy, and Kaladin may or may not have melted a little. May not, being the operative word. 

And that's what is so frightening- that he genuinely feels happy around Adolin, because let's face it, he wasn't the kind of guy to feel happy all the time. To be this happy with someone would only mean that whatever misfortunes would come in the future would be a hundred times more daunting, and Kaladin wasn't just being pessimistic. It's how the system of life worked. 

Adolin smiled, quelling his own dark mood for a while, holding the other's hand in his. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be feeling this happy. You might have to work harder on the 'kissing me breathless' part though," he said, mischievously, leaning closer. 

Kaladin grunted, but smirked slightly. "I have plans for that."

"I'm kinda the only kissing partner you can practice on, buddy." Adolin said, grinning.

"I know. And you can tell me how I'm doing, can't you?"

"More than happy to. We really do need to get out though, this cave isn't helping me breathe any easier- it's sweaty."

"Of course, wouldn't want to ruin your coat, now, would we?"

"I paid good money for this, you uncultured heathen."

Syl grunted impatiently, and Kaladin started, staring at the tiny dragon.

The dragon crooned at him for all of a minute, before looking longingly towards the exit, flying around and then landing on his shoulder again, before jumping on Adolin's shoulder, who jumped but stared at her as she poked his neck with her snout.

"Wow. She's known you for a day and half, and already she's determining if I'm worthy." Adolin said, grinning.

Syl gave him a look that could have said _'duh'_ before landing inside Kaladin's pocket, peeking up at him impatiently.

Kaladin chuckled. "All right, all right, we'll get going."

Somehow along the duration of their conversation, they had started walking, and each of the young men noticed with a secret, giddy joy that the other had not let go of their hand.

* * *

* * *

"Is the ship for the Earth Kingdom set?" Dalinar asked the captain coldly.

The captain nodded.

Dalinar set his jaw, as he eyed the guillotine outside, on the grounds of the Fire Nation's palace.

_"Adolin Kholin was responsible for the Avatar getting away! Time and time again- if we are to ever catch the Avatar, we are going to have to get rid of him, first." Sadeas said calmly, fixing Dalinar with a challenging gaze._

_Dalinar grit his jaw, before looking at Elhokar. "I would appreciate it if you let me go after him, Elhokar."_

_Elhokar raised an eyebrow. "You're really not concerned about the fact you're leading your own son to the guillotine?"_

_Dalinar shook his head slowly. "Do I look like I am?"_

_Elhokar looked conflicted before exhaling. "Fine. You're in charge of capturing my cousin-"_

_"And the agreement, Your Majesty?" Sadeas drawled._

_Elhokar swallowed. "The act of ordering execution for my own family will spit on what little honor I have left, General Sadeas."_

_"He renounced the Fire Nation. He stole the Avatar and he's a traitor. Tell me, Your Majesty, will you let a traitor get away?"_

_Elhokar swallowed again._

So be it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'll just post a shot of the airbending training (i really wanna expand on that?) and another of tien, shallan and renarin in the caves...there's a LOT of stuff I have thought of, but i feel like those three deserve a separate chapter for it all


	14. Syl and The Fire Ferret

"We have a map of the whole cave, right? We could go inside and get our brothers." Renarin said, eyes anxious as he looked at Tien and Shallan.

Tien nods, desperate because he just got Kaladin back, he doesn't want to lose him so quickly, he wants his brother with him, he doesn't want him gone just because _he_ was a terrible brother- and then when he looks at Renarin, he understands that the other must know, must _understand some_ thing of what Tien is feeling, because he pats Tien's shoulder, squeezing it in comfort. Tien sucks in a breath before concentrating on his breath. 

Shallan looked at her map, nodding. "Yeah. So-"

"Easy on the gloves, Kal, easy on the gloves! I swear, you're going to get them ruined at this rate-"

The three looked up from Shallan's map, staring at the cave's exit, unable to believe their ears and eyes. 

"They're fingerless gloves and I'm holding on to your fingers, Adolin. Stop whining." Kaladin Stormblessed said dryly, face streaked with grime and dirt, jumping down before outstretching a hand to help Adolin.

Adolin smiled, and the three looked at each other in dubious surprise, as he took Kaladin's hand and landed, face heavily flushed.

Now, Tien had seen tons of romances in his very tiny lifespan. You see tons of romances when you're stuck with a group of assassins, all of whom are older than you, and have no qualms about showing the truth of baby-making when they think they're surrounded by privacy.

Point is, Tien has seen _things_. 

Sign one of a romance meant that a person keeps blushing for no reason at all. 

But then again, Adolin kinda had a raging romantic drive for his brother, something Tien ardently supported because _one_ \- it will get his brother to think of better things than honor and justice, like love. Love's always nice. Tien would know. 

Two- Adolin is easy on the eyes. Tien's not blind. Stupid at times, yes. But not blind. Adolin Kholin looked like all the gods had loved him with their lives and then unanimously decided to bless him with unfairly good looks. It's an outrageously shallow reason, but Tien is only a teenager. He'd like it if his brother got together with an aesthetically and personally nice specimen of a person, the description of which, Adolin Kholin fit. Perfectly. Tien's rambling, but he always does that, in his brain and out of his brain. It's nothing new. 

Three-Tien could really love and appreciate the irony of a _Fire Nation_ prince slash Water Tribe noble becoming his brother in law.

(Besides, he could be just a little more familiar with Renarin that way, it'd be nice to have more family. Family he can relate with.)

Four- Adolin doesn't really put up with his brother's moods the conventional way, and Tien enjoys it. Call him cruel, but that's just how it is. (He knows what he's admitted to, after all.) 

Five- Adolin was nice. But also willing to do what has to be done. Kaladin needs someone like that, Tien thinks. 

Sign two of a romance is that Kaladin Stormblessed never lets anyone hold on to his hand for more than five seconds.

It's been ten seconds now, and Tien is suspicious.

When he turns to look at Renarin and Shallan to see their reactions, they just look nonplussed.

Tien is utterly disappointed- did not a single person here know how to recognize a romance? 

To be fair...Renarin's been out in the North Pole since the disastrous colonial expansion, and Tien knows for one that an expert in romance the North Pole does not make- women are much more insensitive to the needs of men in the Northern Water Tribe, and Renarin most probably spent his time missing his brother. 

Shallan is a nun. And that's it, really, because being a nun does not necessarily guarantee interpersonal relationships with men. Or interpersonal relationships at all. Otherwise, why such bad puns? Well, Tien isn't really smart enough to think of such puns anyway, that was Kaladin's job, but _he's_ got an ear for it, having lived with his mother and the other Lightweavers. 

Though, Tien should be happy that his brother and Adolin are alive, and really, he is. 

As long as everyone was alive, living was worth it. 

Because...this whole thing was his mistake, in the end. Wasn't it?

"We're right here, but thank you for noticing." Shallan says, blandly and Tien laughs while Renarin just smiles slightly.

"Ha ha, very funny. Ever consider we had a little peace without little brats running all over the place?" Kaladin says, dryly.

"Oh, I'm sure you got a... _piece_ of joy, all right." 

Crickets chirp in the silence that follows, while Renarin laughs into his hand, Tien snickering on the side. 

Adolin however blinks, adorably confused, while Kaladin glares at her.

"Yes. I did get a piece of joy. It's a little unfortunate that you took it away from me now." Kaladin says, and while Tien is snickering, because it's nice to see his brother wrestling with atrociously bad puns, he sees that his brother still hasn't let go of Adolin's hand.

 _Suspicious_. Tien stops snickering and looks at his brother holding hands with Adolin.

It's been two minutes, and his brother still hasn't let go of Adolin's hand.

Adolin however, is clearly a smidgen smarter than Kaladin in certain cases and thereby notices Tien's stare, letting go of Kaladin's hand like his life depends on it, before smiling amicably. 

Tien narrows his eyes at Adolin, who just switches on the _'Me? Innocent old, dumb me?' Why I don't know anything!'_ smile, and Tien has to admire the waterbender's nerve. Is he really going to pretend like his lips could only be even more swollen if stung by a honeybee? 

Fine. Adolin only nearly lost his life because of Tien anyway, so he'll let it slide. He _has_ to let it slide right now, anyway, so. There. That was that.

Tien sighed, feeling so small, unimaginably small. "Um, everyone?"

Everyone turns to look at him, confused. Shallan and Kaladin even pause their brawl- somehow Shallan had ended up climbing up _on_ Kaladin's head and was ruining his ponytail by pulling out the hair band, though she was met with little success, considering Kaladin successfully has her in his arms. 

"I'm sorry." Tien says, timidly. 

"For what?" Adolin asks, confused and genuinely concerned.

"Stop it." 

Tien freezes, before looking at Renarin, who's fixed his inscrutable eyes on him, tense and rigid. 

"You've blamed yourself for this way too many times, Tien....it's okay. It _really_ is." Renarin says, gritting his jaw and Tien can see that Renarin's stressing his words with visible effort and he finds his face burning a bright red for some reason. 

"Blaming yourself for what?" Kaladin asks with surprise, gracefully pushing away Shallan, who falls with a squeal and Adolin gives Kaladin a reproving look as he catches Shallan. 

Kaladin himself only rolls his eyes at Adolin before looking at Tien with concern. 

"Tien?" Kaladin asks, softly. 

Tien swallows. "I still should apologize, I mean- I got us all stuck in a cave but I was trying to help-"

Adolin shares an unreadable look with Kaladin, while Shallan, still in Adolin's arms, chucks a stone at Tien, who squawks but catches the stone regardless, because hey, assassin reflexes are switched on at all times. Inconvenient, but also terribly convenient. 

Renarin stares at her, blinking while Adolin looks down at her in aghast surprise. 

" _Hey_!" Tien says, hurt and surprised and Kaladin gapes, before glaring at Shallan. 

"He deserves it! He was being an _idiot_!" Shallan says defensively, crossing her arms with a pout.

Renarin shrugs. "She's not wrong." He says simply, and Tien chuckles with a blush, feeling awkward and embarrassed. 

"Doesn't mean you chuck a stone at him!" Kaladin protests, and Adolin groans.

Fortunately for him, ever the impatient mediator, Shallan jumps off his arms and hides behind Renarin, not wanting her mouth to get frozen again. 

"Stop. Seriously, stop." Adolin says, tired and looking older than nineteen. He then looks at Tien, smiling gently.

"Tien, it isn't your fault. You really sound like your stupid brother at this point." Adolin says, clapping a hand on said brother's shoulder, making Kaladin stare at him in betrayal. 

"Hey." Kaladin protests. 

"It's true, Kal." 

Tien finds himself chuckling at the duo before he smiles. "I...guys, I know you like telling me it isn't my fault-"

"Because it isn't, idiot." Shallan says, shaking her head.

"But, really, thank you." Tien continues, hoping his words are enough to show how grateful he is, but that's the problem with words, they don't show your feelings as well as you would like them to. Or maybe that's because words aren't really his thing. Probably because he's too much for the words themselves, or _hell_ , he doesn't really have a clue about words anyway- they're stranger than people gave them credit for. 

Kaladin just shakes his head with a smile, Adolin chuckles at him and ruffles his hair, Shallan pinches his cheek with a smile on her face, and Renarin, Renarin nods at him with a smile on his face as well and in all fairness, that's more than enough for Tien right now. 

* * *

"What now, though?" Renarin asks seriously, and a silence falls over them, the warm atmosphere dissipating and giving way to tension as the question is being considered.

Kaladin purses his lips, considering it. 

"What do you mean?" Shallan asked, blinking. 

"Well, we went in there to complete Kaladin's airbending training, didn't we?" 

Shallan looks sheepish. "Oh, yeah."

Kaladin stares at her. "Seriously?"

Shallan chucks a stone at him and Kaladin catches that too, staring at her blandly.

"Everyone, settle down. We need to talk about what happened- Adolin and I encountered something important." Kaladin said, looking at everyone intently.

The three freeze, perturbed by Kaladin's suddenly serious tone.

Adolin nodded, looking serious as well. "Yep. Listen up, guys. Kaladin and I encountered a listener."

Shallan inhaled, Tien blinked, and Renarin widened his eyes.

Kaladin noticed Tien's confused look, before running a hand through his mussed up hair, as he contemplated how to explain. Agni, he had forgotten Tien didn't know that part.

"Okay, so Tien, listen- the listeners are the original inhabitants of our world. They taught humans bending, and we then stole this world from them," Kaladin felt shame as he realized the full extent of Talenel's actions. "As they attacked us, history got blurred to the point we believed they were what we called today the Voidbringers." 

Tien's eyes narrow. "It's true, then." He says, clenching his jaw.

The other four look at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" Shallan asked, blinking.

Tien licked his lips, looking fairly uncertain. He then inhaled, expression clearing.

"We suspected this, but we weren't actually sure. Anyone here heard of the Elsecallers?" Tien asked, fiddling with the stone Shallan had chucked at him, rolling it between his fingers. 

Adolin and Kaladin nodded while Shallan shook her head, confused and Renarin looked as if trying to recall where he heard the word.

"Jasnah's one of them. They're scholars." Adolin explained, for the benefit of Shallan and Renarin, the latter who widened his eyes and snapped his fingers in recognition. 

"Yeah. Avatar Batta founded them- though I don't remember much else...I have absolutely no idea as to what they research though." Kaladin said, scratching his head. 

Tien exchanged a dubious look with Shallan as crickets chirped before staring at his brother.

" _You_ founded them but you don't remember what they do?" Tien asked, skeptically. 

Kaladin gave him a dry look. "Well, exc _uuuse_ me, little brother, but _you_ try reincarnating every fifty or hundred or heck, two hundred years and so, and you try remembering what happened. It's a miracle I even remember who founded it." He said, rubbing his head. 

Adolin rubbed his back soothingly, while Shallan rolled her eyes. Renarin however chuckled at Tien, who pouted.

"They research natural phenomena and history. Jasnah never stayed in the palace for too long, because she was always researching on something or the other. She tried drilling some of it in my head, and it's unfortunate how long it's stuck in my brain for, but I digress. The Elsecallers don't stay in one place too long, they stay where they think....something is calling out to them."

The other four stared at him with disbelieving looks. Adolin snorted, pausing his explanation. 

"That's how _she_ told it to me, take it up with her, if you're willing and if we ever find her."

Kaladin raised an eyebrow. "She seriously said that?"

Adolin nodded. "Said it with an impossibly straight face." 

Renarin chuckles. "Sounds like Jasnah."

Shallan stared at them, face lighting with awe. "I honestly wanna meet her- she sounds so _amazing_."

Kaladin snorted. "She's not." 

Shallan gaped at him and Tien pinched the bridge of his nose as he pulled back Shallan from assaulting Kaladin one more time- that girl really must have been a loose cannon at the Air Temple, Tien thinks fondly. He then clears his throat, getting attention.

"Guys, as fun as meeting Jasnah Kholin sounds, we gotta focus. Listen to me," and oh boy, the way those four are sitting in attention to listen to him was satisfying.

"Adolin's right. The Elsecallers research natural phenomena in conjunction with history, so that they can help prevent possible calamities. They pored over Avatar Talenel's existing accounts, which was _hard,_ " Tien raises his eyebrows at Kaladin, who blinks with confusion. "Because Avatar Talenel was not the scholarly type. He didn't think much of preserving his thoughts, but in the end, the Elsecallers finally got to one conclusive piece of evidence." Tien explained.

"Which was...?" 

"The fact that Talenel promised that we would suffer consequences, eventually. That the world was going to be destroyed. He didn't tell why though, and that's what confused and scared the Elsecallers so much. They then researched what happened, and us Lightweavers? We work with them. We do the dirty work for them and they give us some extra information. So I suspected this for a while, but none of us were certain how true it is." Tien finished, folding his arms with a grim look on his face. 

Kaladin inhaled. "Wow."

Tien nodded, grinning a little. 

Adolin then licked his lips, holding his chin in thought. "So the whole world kinda knows about it. Anyways, as I was saying- we encountered a listener, I mean. They're a tough bunch, and it seems that Taravangian helped them find us." He said calmly, but his blue eyes were blazing furiously, clearly angry with the betrayal. 

Shallan winced, and Renarin grit his jaw. "I _knew_ it." He muttered, and Adolin nodded.

"The other thing is, the listeners can find us where we are by sensing my presence in the Spirit World, somehow...juxtaposing my position here and that in the Spirit World. Like parallel planes of existence, oh damn, I can't seem to explain this properly," Kaladin said in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Shallan somehow, understood. "I think I understand, I invented a technique on that principle actually, that's how I got these." She said, pointing to her arrows, making the boys gape at her.

"What in the name of Shu are you unable to do?" Tien asked, gaping.

Shallan grinned again, freckled cheeks dusted red with pleasure. "I'm incapable of reproducing Kaladin's brooding face, if you must know."

Kaladin wrinkled his nose.

Shallan sobered up. "So, if we work on that principle, technically, there are planes of existence, in a single world. The spirit world is one plane, and the physical world is one plane. So imagine this whole universe to be a...book. A book with papers on top of one another. Where we live between the gaps of two papers- the physical world and the spirit world."

Kaladin looked amazed, but Adolin _'ooh'_ -ed in understanding, leaning closer to hear more. Tien blinked, but grinned, as if accepting this explanation. Renarin's eyes shone with excitement and curiosity. 

Shallan spread her hands apart, gesticulating as she spoke. "So you have all those layers of pages, stacked on top of one another. That's how this world works. Life peeks in through the cracks. But say if you put a feather's rear end into the papers, creating a hole through all of them, that feather-" she paused, looking at everyone intently. "-exists through all the papers. The papers themselves are different, but that feather, exists all of them through one spot, _one_ exact spot on all of those papers. One single spot. It's the same everywhere. If you knew where the feather is poking through on one page-"

"You can find out where it is poking through on the other page!" Tien said, excited. 

Shallan grinned. " _Exactly_. So, that's the principle of how tracking someone using the Spirit World works. Point is, you need a bird's eye view of all the planes of existence to figure out where a person is. But my technique goes like this- if I have a person's article, anything that person touched, I can use their spiritual presence to first track where they are in the Spirit World _then_ track them here! So, I think that's how the listeners found us! Taravangian must have told them we visited him, and they then tracked you! Because your presence," she pointed at Kaladin, who gaped. "Is spiritually the strongest! They must have used some other means to track you, but I'm sure _this_ is how they did it. If we could cover it up, which I _can_ , then we wouldn't have a problem!" 

She paused for breath, flushing as the others grinned at her.

"That must have been what happened- Shallan, that was amazing." Kaladin said, eyes wide. Syl squeaked in agreement, glowing brightly. 

"Super amazing!" Adolin burst out, excited.

"You're telling me- that was genius!" Tien whooped, punching the air.

"That was incredible." Renarin said, squeezing her shoulder with a grin.

Shallan tried not to cry. She really did. 

"It was just a bit of logic." Shallan said, swallowing, unable to bear the pride and love the other four were currently showering her with. 

"A bit of logic none of us came up with save for you, Shallan." Kaladin said, grinning slightly. 

If they were found hugging Shallan, no one commented on it. If Shallan was crying happily into Adolin's chest, no one said anything about it. 

* * *

"We just survived a massive cave in- let's get going to business tomorrow morning, okay? Shallan, you got plans for the airbending training thingy?" Adolin said, as he finished setting up camp half an hour later.

Shallan pursed her lips. "Maybe I could do a duel thingy so that I can see how far he's come? I mean, he works best with duels after all..."

"Great!" Adolin said, flashing her a grin.

Shallan grinned back. "All righty, you're the referee then." She said cheerfully.

Adolin gawked. "Wait, why me?" But he was ignored as Shallan went off to meddle with Tien for some reason or the other. 

"We've still got work to do." Kaladin said, frowning.

"I know, it's not like the world is ending today, Kal. If it was, I'm sure we'd have gotten a warning. Besides, considering the state we're in, we can't pluck off a reed from the ground if we wanted to." Adolin said, dryly but with an unmistakable firmness that spoke of _'try messing with me and you will either end up stabbed or frozen'._

" _Sucker_." Shallan whispered to Tien, as Kaladin obediently shut his mouth, just rolled his eyes and started meditating. 

Tien snorted, holding his stomach in so that he didn't laugh too loudly and arouse Adolin's suspicion. Renarin however, from his position of setting fire, noticed the two and blinked.

Shallan winked. "We'll tell you later." 

Renarin was found snorting too much five seconds later. 

"Seriously though, you think something happened in that cave? They seem closer than usual..." Shallan whispered, pretending to inspect her fans. 

"I thought so! They seem way more closer!" Tien said, widening his eyes. 

"Do they?" Renarin asked, frowning as he played with a little flame, shifting it from one hand to another.

"Maybe? If they are, one of them'll let something slip up!" Shallan said, grinning wickedly. 

Tien widened his eyes, pointing at Shallan in amazement, and then shared a high five with her.

Renarin just sighed. 

* * *

"Is blaming oneself an inherited trait in your family?" Adolin asks dryly, making his next move. 

The two are playing Pai Sho after Kaladin's spent a lifetime (the whole evening maybe) talking to Tien about everything and nothing, their lives so far for the past five years, and right now, come nightfall Kaladin is determined to earn his sixtieth win (considering that Shallan dragged Tien away for something ridiculous), out of the hundred and fifty games they've played. 

Kaladin's won fifty nine times, Adolin's won fifty nine times as well and the rest were draws- considering the other games had been all nighters and they had been too sleepy to continue. 

The other three are doing something crazy Kaladin does not have the energy to be a part of or overseeing- but he's more than sure it involves a hill, Renarin firebending, animals making weird and crazy noises and Shallan's fans. 

Kaladin glares half-heartedly at Adolin. 

"Oh, shut up." He says, raising an eyebrow. 

A fire ferret is heard squeaking happily and Kaladin rubs his eyes, getting up only to see Shallan whooping while Tien is clapping his hands at something to move. 

Renarin on the other hand, just stares at something else moving and Kaladin gapes when he realizes it's _Syl_. 

"Oh my _god_. What is happening out there?" Kaladin whispers, flabbergasted.

Shallan then grins, and she waves a fan at Syl, causing flowers to fall on said dragon. Syl then squeals with joy and playfully hits Shallan's nose with her snout, before running joyfully and hugging the fire ferret. 

At this rate, Kaladin is not sure if he's having a fever dream or if he's awake. 

"What happened?" Adolin asks, curious. 

Tien and Shallan are hugging each other and staring at Syl and the fire ferret with teary eyes while Renarin, who looks like he's questioning his life choices, lights a miniature fire. 

"They grow up so fast." Shallan says in a high voice, wiping away imaginary tears. 

"Yes, yes they do." Tien is saying, patting Shallan's back. 

"Are we seriously conducting a platonic marriage? For animals? We should really be training, shouldn't we?" Renarin says, dubiously. 

"They're friends! And it's adorable, don't you think?" Tien says, looking at Renarin pleadingly.

Renarin stares at him, looking like he wants answers as to why _he_ agreed to this.

It's a valid question, considering Renarin is usually the most sensible. The Skybreaker incident doesn't count considering that the whole lot of them were maniacs and the young firebender was desperate. 

Kaladin _almost_ gets an aneurysm at that question himself, and if not for Adolin getting up and then sitting behind him, then gently placing his own hands on his shoulders, Kaladin would have turned into stone at the bizarre debacle thereby considering the whole situation as it is, his own state of utter and complete befuddlement merits a kiss on the cheek.

It feels nice, surprisingly which is honestly _strange_ to Kaladin- he's not comfortable with romantic gestures on his best days, but perhaps it's the fact he knew Adolin as a friend first that allows him to forgive the other for this unpleasantly sudden but pleasantly affectionate gesture. 

"Give me some warning next time." Kaladin says blandly, sighing with internal relief when Adolin doesn't take any offence and actually _gets_ what he meant by that. 

"'Kay. You cold or nah?" Adolin says, humming. 

"Nah. But just stay like that, I still can't believe what's going on over there." Kaladin says, dryly. He's gratified as Adolin wraps his arms around his neck, and then looks up at the offending prince who is currently resting his chin on the top of Kaladin's head, with a questioning look.

"Thought you wanted to stay low?" Kaladin asked, curious.

Adolin snorts. "Look at them. Do you think they're going to catch whatever we do when they're doing _that_?"

Kaladin looks at his brother, Renarin and Shallan celebrating an impromptu platonic wedding between his spirit guide and a fire ferret before exhaling incredulously, getting what Adolin means and thereby grunting in agreement, even as he keeps staring at the bizarre sight. And he is also terribly aware, that Adolin is trying not to laugh at how confused he is, if the way he is chortling silently beside him when he thinks Kaladin isn't looking is any indication. The _prick_. 

Kaladin will excuse it only for one reason- Adolin is terribly warm on this cold night. Otherwise, he'd have frozen the guy himself. 

Shallan then stands up and is singing something in a high, purposefully _horribly_ off-key voice, while dramatically raising a hand while Tien keeps throwing flowers.

Renarin however, has no compunctions about releasing miniature fireworks above the newly wedded animal couple even if he looks like he'd rather be buried six feet under, and Syl and the fire ferret are squeaking happily. 

"They're having fun." Adolin says, laughter in his voice. 

"That's not what I had in mind." Kaladin says, staring as Syl brushes the fire ferret's snout with hers. It's cute. In a weird way. 

"Do you ever _think_ about having fun?" Adolin asks, in the driest voice manageable, arms still around the other's shoulders. 

Kaladin opens his mouth to say something before realizing the other has a point, and then grunts before sensing his opening on the Pai Sho board.

"No. But I think it's time to get back to the game." Kaladin says, stroking his chin thoughtfully. 

Adolin is then, seen staring at the board while Kaladin counts the tiles, smirking as he revels in his sixtieth win. 

* * *

* * *

_**Interlude:** _

Dalinar was not going to fail.

He was certain of this, as sure as the sun rose in the east, as he sat with his back to said sun, breathing and exhaling.

Another presence would have been next to him- but the spare had stolen it all. 

The truth was, Dalinar had loved Adolin, once upon a time.

Any father would have. 

He knows, he's not a father to Adolin now, but what could he do?

He knew what waterbenders were capable of. 

The world claimed that fire left only ash, could not create, could not preserve, could not allow life to flourish. But what of water? It was a poison, a slow, beautiful poison that consumed you and choked you in your sleep, should you disturb it in the slightest, and you wouldn't even know you were bested in your own sleep by an offence caused eons ago, by water. 

Dalinar had always preferred the straighter path. Not the curved, meandering path of death that water had provided and would always provide. 

If his son could disobey him and lure away the Avatar, then he most certainly was a traitor.

And the last time he had shown mercy had resulted him in losing Evi and Renarin.

No. Dalinar wouldn't lose Elhokar or this nation his brother had built, for the sake of his son, a son who could kill him.

No matter how much that truth hurt him. 

* * *

* * *

"Am I really doing this?" Adolin asked, running a hand through his hair. 

Tien chuckled. "Well, you're the one who keeps stopping them from killing each other, so it makes sense you're the referee." 

None of the other three believed that Shallan genuinely wanted Kaladin's best interests at heart, considering the two loved to argue as much as the Fire Nation liked the idea of expansion.

"Do Air Nomads even have duels like this? And why the formality anyway?" Adolin asked, curious as Kaladin and Shallan faced each other down for their final practice match. 

Renarin shrugged. "There has to be some way of measuring your combative abilities, pacifist nature or not. Don't you think so, Brother?"

Adolin looked at Kaladin and Shallan dubiously- the air literally crackled with hostile electricity, courtesy of Kaladin, and then sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, you're right. Or maybe, one of the two wants to kick the other's ass. There's been a lot of pent up competitiveness between those two..." Adolin muttered, making Tien smile wearily and Renarin shrug in a _that's a given_ motion, before raising his hand and then bringing it front of him.

"Combatants, bow!"

Kaladin and Shallan bowed to each other, while Adolin exhaled.

"This is _not_ ending well. Match, start!" 

It did not end well. 

" _Get me off here_." Shallan all but snarled into Kaladin's face, as he hummed.

"Nope." Kaladin said placidly, tying Shallan to a tree. 

"How did that happen?" Tien asked, blinking. 

No one had the answer to that and Adolin sighed.

"Kaladin, get the poor child off the tree." Adolin said, putting a hand on his forehead. 

Kaladin stopped tying Shallan to the tree, only to finish tying a knot, and then stepped back while Shallan glared at him.

"And that's what you get for stealing my breakfast." Kaladin said, rubbing his hands together to shake them free of dust.

"You had a lot more plums because Adolin gave you fifteen more!" 

"I had practically nothing by the time you took them all!"

"Guys. Focus. What's the result, did he learn everything?" Adolin asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"He did. Even the part about channeling the chi to your weapons- which is unfair considering it took me five weeks and he got it in three weeks." Shallan admitted, grudgingly. 

"That's the longest he took to learn something, actually." Adolin said, chuckling.

"Geniuses." Shallan grumbled.

"I thought the bending a drop thing was hard. Then came the bending the chi into the weapon thing." Kaladin grumbled.

"Has it really been three weeks? Thought it was three days." Renarin said, rubbing his eyes.

"Time is an illusion." Tien said wisely, patting Renarin's back. 

"You're telling me. Where'd the weeks go?" Renarin said, yawning. 

Tien chuckles, nose flushed. "I don't know, buddy. I don't know."

"Okay, seriously, Kal. Untie her already." Adolin is protesting, looking exasperated.

Kalaidn shrugged, before letting go of the knot, eyes dancing with amusement as Shallan landed face first on the ground. 

"I hate you." Shallan's voice, muffled by the ground, arose with a lot of venom.

"Sentiment returned. So. How about that _very_ pleasant trip to the Ba Sing Se?" Kaladin asked to Adolin, helping Shallan sit up against the tree and wiping her face with a spare dry cloth in one hand and cradling her face with the other gently even as she folded her arms and pouted.

"He looks like a parent." Renarin muttered to Tien, dubiously. 

"That's my brother for you." Tien said, dryly. 

"Sure. Provided if Syl isn't too annoyed about leaving her new friend." Adolin said, dryly, pointing at where Syl was squeaking excitedly with said fire ferret, that kept humming for some strange reason. 

Tien chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck while Shallan giggled nervously.

"Pattern likes Syl!" Shallan protested, then twiddled her thumbs together.

"Oh no, he has a name already." Kaladin said with a very bad grace, even as he healed Shallan's wounds. 

"Well, it's cute. Pattern can come along as we threaten King Taravangian." Adolin said, shrugging, and Tien and Shallan cheered.

"Yes!"

"Yay!" 

"You guys are taking care of him though. The rest of us are not responsible for his food. Or for when he poops." Adolin said, dryly.

Tien cringed at the last part, while Shallan nodded enthusiastically, much to her healer's annoyance.

"Stay still, I'm healing you, remember?" Kaladin said, flicking her forehead.

Shallan gave him a pompous look. "You're _supposed_ to, smarty." 

Kaladin stared at her. "I will string you off a cliff."

"You can't pour hot water on me without feeling guilty about it- _mmmph_!"

"And _that_ should shut you up." Kaladin said smugly, face still surprisingly expressionless, as Shallan stared at her now frozen mouth in horror.

Shallan grunted and squealed, however Kaladin only melted off the ice after he healed her fully, before helping her up.

"Let's go." 

"The respect received by an outstanding airbender such as myself...unbelievable." Shallan grumbled, following the other.

* * *

Pattern the fire ferret, as it turned out, was very cheerful and inquisitive. And also constantly humming.

Shallan, being the expert she was on matters as these, had named him so due to a distinctive pattern on his tail- quite odd in a fire ferret. Instead of the usual white and red stripes, his tail had a white and red swirl of spirals, which had sent Shallan and Tien into ecstasies of wonder upon observing it. Shallan must have drawn the pattern a hundred times on her sketchbook.

"It's fascinating, there are minute changes in the arrangement of that pattern with each second!" Shallan squealed, showing the sketchbook to Tien.

Tien pored over it in wonder, while Renarin stared from behind. 

Adolin was busy gagging and Kaladin wondered as he absently rubbed Syl's back while they flew- how did his life come to threatening monarchs, falling in love with his childhood best friend, reuniting with his family, finding a new one, finding a dragon and just...going overboard?

But as he turned back, seeing Shallan and Tien pore over their sketchbook while the latter excitedly spoke of it to Renarin who hesitantly held Pattern, Adolin cursing under his breath and sipping water, he smiled.

He wouldn't give any of them up for the world. 

And it was frightening, Kaladin thought, swallowing as his smile dimmed, giving way to a frown. 

Because, as the Avatar...

He had to do whatever it took, to save the world.

Didn't he? He had to perform his duty, regardless of who lost their lives and...

He closed his eyes, pretending that his hands weren't shaking. 

_Your feelings will either destroy you. Or save you._

* * *

Landing on the Outer Court however, was not pleasant for any of them. 

Syl landed, and reverted back to her lizard form and fell into Pattern's arms, who squeaked- the guards at the front froze.

Before pointing their spears at the group of five.

"They want a fight, they're getting one." Kaladin growled under his breath, fists burning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really must know the answer to my question, is it childish of me to use the imperial march (darth vader's theme) whenever i write dalinar in here


	15. They Should Probably Have Executed You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clothes have always been a favorite of mine, so here are the peeps' signature outfits! 
> 
> Kaladin wears something like this (god do you know how hard it is to find something he'd wear)- https://serenesavagery.tumblr.com/post/619970611541901312 (the zuko one numbered 207, and before you ask, he didn't exactly wear it because he wanted to, he did it because adolin didn't pack any clothes for him out of sheer spite. the grey tinges have to be replaced by black and there ya go. that's what kaladin wears.)  
> alternatively you could just imagine kaladin wearing what zuko wears after having joined the gaang, but with full handed sleeves and the yellow being replaced by black. again, he didn't get clothes. only the winter coat in chapter 1...not that he minds. kal is not one for fancy schmancy clothing. adolin is WAAAY too petty and it burns him to see that kal is fine with not having clothes and just three changes of underwear. 
> 
> Adolin wears something like this- https://in.pinterest.com/pin/360288038912811077/ (he uses chi to keep himself cold so that he has an excuse to wear winter clothing in summer akshfkshfkshkh. he does change his clothes in ba sing se like fifty times though so watch out for that.) probably has 20 change of underwear. 
> 
> Shallan bless her, wears something like this- https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fmiomayhem%2Fair-nomads%2F&psig=AOvVaw2x3TYCmrMIBKyDBcwZNJR2&ust=1591335870691000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMif3JK65-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAe (the one on the right! she'd die wearing something like the one on the left lmao)  
> after she joins them for real, her clothes are in this really safe bag and adolin likes buying clothes for her. he spoils her rotten  
> kaladin has heart attacks at seeing the bills due to adolin buying shallan's clothes  
> shallan loves adolin for buying and making her all these clothes- her favorite has to be the earth kingdom hanbok. 
> 
> Renarin wears something like what Sokka does- same link on my blog page as Kal's but the second of Sokka's outfits (he does not really like skin for all that it is sweltering hot...that and he has no sense of fashion much to his brother's dismay...adolin swears that half the bandages are used up by renarin to cover himself up. it stops being funny after shallan breaks her ankle and there aren't any bandages left for adolin to cover it up.) 
> 
> Tien, ha, this was difficult- https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F531143349785265980%2F&psig=AOvVaw2kyChAHftplcOiRp8uA8g7&ust=1591338589420000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCOjgkaXE5-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD (pretty much aesthetic warrior clothing asusfkshfhk)  
> otherwise, he'd just wear a traditional earth kingdom style hanfu. you can look up hanfus in google! his default is either the lightweaver uniform or the hanfu when he's not fighting. 
> 
> and say hello to his mask- now i'll have to change its description lmao! https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F854487729273174467%2F&psig=AOvVaw0sUpWqPrP0IFaujEthxB7T&ust=1591338958874000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKic-tPF5-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
> 
> you guys have any other ideas???

There was nothing much to be said after that terribly confrontational statement.

Adolin soon found himself locking swords with a hefty looking guard, gritting his jaw as he pushed the blade forward. 

The guard withdrew his sword quickly to chance a hit but Adolin parried the blow, before jumping backwards and landing a hit of his own on the guard who fell down, and behind him, a whole troop approached, making Adolin roll his eyes and sheath his sword, ice seeping out of his hands. 

Meanwhile Shallan slid in between two men with a swift grace, grinning as they bashed into each other. 

"Honestly, you guys aren't even trying." Shallan said dryly before performing an air swipe at a guard hesitantly approaching her from behind without even turning. 

Renarin knocked down three guards with flaming fists, annoyed as more and more approached, before finally stealing a spear from one of the unconscious guards and slashing away at someone's leg with a yell and then kicking with a burning leg. 

Tien slipped on his mask, taking out a huge staff that the others gawked at even as they fought. 

"Try not to get hit with the staff!" Tien shouted at Renarin before running forward and swinging it down on the neck of a guard approaching Renarin. 

Renarin shoved one guard off him with a kick to the stomach, grunting and rubbing his neck as he looked at Tien. "Thanks." 

Tien's brown eyes shone from behind the mask, crinkling. "No problem. On your right!" 

Without missing a beat, Renarin brought two fingers just under his mouth and breathed out a stream of fire from it, scorching the guard and watched impassively as the guard fell down screaming. 

Tien stared at him, blinking. "How do you do that?" 

Renarin coughed. "You drink a lot of tea." He said, voice hoarse even as he grinned slightly at Tien. 

Tien pushed a fast approaching guard away with a grunt with the butt of his staff, still staring at Renarin incredulously. "No way."

"Yeah, it actually works. You give me three peaches for tomorrow's breakfast if Kaladin does it." Renarin said, smiling, wiping his chin with the back of his knuckle. 

Tien smirked from behind the mask. "I'll take you up on that!" He said, before somersaulting gracefully and bringing his staff down on someone just before he landed on his knees and free. 

"Feel free!" Renarin called out, before kicking at someone's neck, and then sending a swipe of fire towards an approaching group of guards. 

Kaladin knocked a squealing guard's skull into a wall, tossing him aside before swiping his hand and thereby creating a stream of ice that just pierced the side of another guard's neck, drawing blood. 

The guard looked immensely petrified, and taking advantage of it, Kaladin swiped his leg and created an air swipe, sending the guard flying into another wall. 

"Your king's gotta be seriously dumb or seriously brave." Kaladin muttered, before spinning to the right and head butting a guard forcefully, staring dryly as the man winced and crumbled to the ground. 

He held up the man by the lapels of his uniform, bringing his face closer. "What's with the sudden hostility?" Kaladin asked quietly, voice threatening. 

The guard coughed weakly- he was most probably a young man, a fresh recruit, by the looks of it. He glared at Kaladin defiantly and then winced as the Avatar tightened his hold. 

"Start talking. The king is gonna be the _least_ of your worries, friend." Kaladin said softly, tightening his hold on the guard, a layer of ice coating his hand. 

The guard paled at the ice before swallowing. 

"King Taravangian- has issued orders for your arrest." 

"The old crook. Fine." Kaladin said, letting go of him. 

He paused, swallowing as he felt a strange spiritual presence inside the palace, realizing what it was and then looked at the others, blinking in surprise but gratified at what he saw. A pile of groaning bodies, and some alarmingly still bodies as well, surrounded Adolin as he impaled a guard with an icy spear before spinning it into the last guard approaching him, pulling it out with a sigh. 

At least Kaladin doesn't smell corpses. That was more of a relief than anything. 

Renarin and Tien had finished dealing with the last wave and the latter was chattering away about his...staff while Renarin listened keenly. 

Shallan had taken to looting the guards, and Kaladin was not in the least gratified about that. 

"Shallan! Stop looting them!" Kaladin called out, and Shallan with a huff, stuffed a bag of pennies into a guard's pocket. 

The other four stopped their business at the sound of his voice before looking at Kaladin.

"We'll need to get inside, it's going to get ugly because the listeners are inside- if there are listeners, knock them out but _don't_ injure them or hurt them. Get the civilians inside to safety, we don't know what's going on and I don't want them to get caught up in this!" Kaladin commanded, and the others nodded, running towards the palace. 

They knew as well as they should have- that there was nothing friendly awaiting them inside. 

Kaladin for his part, took to jumping on the top with a spurt of air propelling him as he crashed down inside to where he knew the throne room would be. 

Landing on his knees in the center of the throne room, he came face to face with not Taravangian but yet another listener. 

* * *

"Anybody got any questions as to what we need to do?" 

The three shook their heads, grim. 

"All right. We're splitting up in two teams- Shallan, I need you to go with Tien to the inner court of the palace- Tien, lead the way there. Renarin?" Adolin asked briskly, taking charge. 

Renarin nodded at his brother, before shooting a look at the other two. 

"Good luck." He said, and Tien, still masked, flashed a thumbs up gesture, while Shallan nodded. 

"You too." Shallan said. 

* * *

"I don't want to fight you." Kaladin said, raising his hands in surrender. 

The listener sneered- this one was pale skinned, lithe with red markings on their skin, and taller than Kaladin himself. Strands of something like hair flew out of the helmet like carapace covering their head and seemed fairly feminine. 

"Of course not. Not when we're so close to power." The listener, definitely female, grit out. Her words were growled to a definite beat, angry and pulsating. 

Kaladin did not know what that meant, but he figured if he had to, he had better keep her talking. 

"Power that will at the most feed your hatred." Kaladin said quietly, remembering what Eshonai had said about their own hatred. 

"And what would you know of our hatred, Avatar? You damned us to hell!" The listener screamed out harshly, words still growled to a rhythm. 

"Because I was blind! Please, you have to stay your vengeance! I do not want to move against you-" 

"You don't have the right to plead, Avatar." The listener said calmly, her words now sung to a derisive rhythm. 

Kaladin inhaled, his own hands crackling with lightning. 

"And what would you make you stop your conflict?" He asked quietly, knowing the answer. 

"Your death. Slaying the Avatar wasn't as difficult as we thought." The listener said, the rhythm of her voice now malicious. 

"I really don't want to fight you. I just want to know how this can be fixed- how to save." 

"It's too late. I don't even know why I bothered listening to you anyway." The listener said darkly, before bending a wave of water that loomed challengingly over him. 

* * *

Shallan and Tien had had to knock down (or in Tien's unfortunate case, kill them with a poisoned staff) seventeen guards on their way. 

"They seem to know who we are pretty well enough." Shallan said, panting as they hid in a corridor. 

Tien frowned, before sheathing his staff and slinging it on the back strap of his Lightweaver uniform and removing his mask. "Yeah. That's a sound observation. Question is-" 

"How?" Shallan asked, narrowing her eyes. 

"Kaladin told us the king was alone, right? Or is this some other listener trick?" Tien asked, blinking. 

"Correct, assassin." Came a grim voice from behind them. 

Shallan and Tien froze, before turning to look at the speaker. 

"Couldn't Kaladin have just calmed down, you know, like a proper Avatar?" Shallan asked, swallowing as she took in the appearance of the listener in front of them. 

"Well, we knew what we signed up for, right?" Tien asked grimly, putting on his mask and taking out another particularly heavy looking staff from the back of his uniform. 

Shallan gaped at it, while Tien smiled.

"Well, we kinda need to knock him out, don't we?"

"More important question is, how did you fit it in there?"

The ceiling broke apart and the duo stared at in wide eyes as lightning crackled around that falling piece of rubble about to flatten them. 

* * *

The operative plan was clear and not very troublesome for the most part- Adolin helped people climb out windows on improvised ice ladders and the kids got to have a little fun by sliding out on a particularly enjoyable ice slide that Renarin is sure his brother had a lot of fun making it while Renarin blew up walls.

Because the doors were locked and neither of them could pick a lock to save their lives. 

How Adolin didn't know how to pick a lock was beyond Renarin. 

Renarin wasn't sure if they'd get out of the building alive though. The rate they were going at, by the time they went to the inner court, the whole palace would most likely collapse, but it seemed that was what Adolin wanted- if the way his eyes lit up at the lightning was any indication.

Of course, Renarin didn't blame him. There _was_ a thrill to blowing something up...provided there wasn't terrible collateral damage. 

It reminded Renarin of when they were children- Adolin would watch excitedly as Renarin practiced the firebending exercises his father had given him and would cheer loudly if some innocent piece of furniture blew up before laughing and fixing it with a bit of ice that would go unnoticed by everyone save for their mother. 

It seemed like Adolin hadn't grown up much, and Renarin was relieved, no, _happy_ to see that. What with seeing Adolin take care of all four of them (yes, Kaladin as well, Kaladin had his fair share of childish moments and Renarin wondered, why hadn't anyone save for Adolin discovered that yet?) and seeing him have that deadened, haunted look in his eyes...

Renarin would blow up the whole building if he meant Adolin would laugh at that as well. 

"You seem to like the blowing up part the most." Renarin said with a smile, as Adolin gently accosted a child out on an ice slide, grinning as the child cheered.

"Yeah. It's fun." Adolin said, grinning wider.

Renarin chuckled. "Of course it is. How many more?" He asked, sobering up.

Adolin took out a map from his pocket, biting on his lip as a shard of ice formed in the hand farther from the map and pointing to a point on the map with said shard of ice. Renarin leaned closer to see it.

"We're right here in the eastern wing- but the western wing is populated the most. We better get there by blowing up this which happens to be right here fortunately-" Adolin pointed to a corridor on the map before pointing to the corridor opposite them. "So, how about it, little brother?"

Renarin focused lightning on his fingers, before directing it to the wall as a lightning bolt and watched it explode, nonplussed.

"Leave the blowing up to me." Renarin deadpanned, before widening his eyes as he saw what lay behind the now-exploded wall. 

"Renarin? _Renarin! Spirits!_ "

* * *

Fighting a listener single handedly was more than what Kaladin could take, but at least he was able to move this time. 

Grunting in annoyance, he ran to the other end of the room, firing a lightning bolt and jumping out of the palace before watching the listener follow him for a brief second before he landed on the ground. 

"Where are you running off to, Avatar?" The listener taunted, firing a lightning bolt at him. 

"Somewhere you probably won't follow." Kaladin muttered, hand diagonally in front of him as he took the lightning. 

It burnt him, causing his veins to feel like they were on fire, and they might as well have been, but Kaladin willed himself not to panic as the lightning shocked him. 

"What the-" 

What the listener didn't know was that though it seemed stupid of Kaladin to take the lightning, Dalinar Kholin had viciously fired him with bolts of lightning to force him to attempt a redirection of the lightning. 

_"Again!"_

_Adolin was watching in horror as Kaladin crumbled to the ground, feebly supporting himself on his palm and knees as he willed himself not to scream at the pain, the unbearable pain-_

_Kaladin screamed as the lightning hit him once more, falling face first, still screaming and thrashing about._

_"You're worse off than weak, brat, if you can't even handle a little lightning."_

For all that the man was simply detestable, Kaladin had to admit as he watched the listener crumble to the ground at the lightning, the Blackthorn had been a very effective teacher. 

And he was right.

This was just a little lightning after all, Kaladin thought absently, hand still numb as he shook it off.

Though...Adolin would have his head if _he_ ever heard that. The thought was a little frightening. 

In fact, hadn't Adolin nearly succumbed to heart attack for that one? 

_"A little lightning? A_ little _?!" Adolin all but shrieked as he healed Kaladin's burnt chest._

_"It wasn't even that bad this time." Kaladin croaked out defensively, resisting the urge to fold his arms considering Adolin was working on the burns._

_Plus, he wasn't twelve anymore anyway. He couldn't behave like a child any longer._

_Adolin narrowed his eyes before swatting at the burn on his chest._

_"Ow, ow, ow! What'd you do that for? I thought you weren't supposed to abuse the freaking patient!" Kaladin protested, hissing as the pain spread lower._

_Adolin huffed. "Well, then. Shut it with the soldier bravado then."_

_Kaladin narrowed his eyes. "You do that too."_

_"Difference is, I can heal myself. Can you?"_

_Kaladin shut his mouth._

_Adolin smirked before humming as he set to work._

Jumping up high on a suprt of air, he split his feet apart at an angle and ran forward on the air using a makeshift ice ramp, sliding to the hole in the palace he had made, landing and watching the unconscious listener cautiously. 

The listener sagged against the wall, glaring at him. 

"You can't fight. Please, just stop." Kaladin tried, sighing. 

"And what? Have you kill me? Betray me?" 

"I'm not going to do any of those things. Please, I am not your enemy, not anymore anyway." Kaladin added with a wince. 

The listener looked at him, black eyes searching. 

"I want to try to help you." Kaladin added, softly. 

"You let the humans take our land and our bending, what _we_ taught them. You were the one who let them attack us. You then sold our souls to Koh because humans were more important than the ones you were _sworn_ to protect, the ones who actually worshiped you! So tell me, why should I listen to you?" The listener snarled, her rhythm speaking of pain, a pain that ached Kaladin the whole time as he listened to her anguish. 

"Because if anything, I swear to fix the mistakes of my predecessors." Kaladin said quietly. 

"And how would you?" The listener asked derisively.

"You think getting vengeance for what I did is going to solve anything?" Kaladin asked, voice still soft as he approached her.

"Oh, it may be satisfying, to see me crack like a wall that is designed to fortify, but still weak anyway. But what are you going to do after that wall gets cracked? Tell me that. You kill me. What next?" Kaladin asked, challenging.

The listener smirked. "Simple. We take back what was ours."

"And resign your children to an eternity of war?" Kaladin asked scornfully, folding his arms. 

The listener frowned.

"So you resign yourself to war. Do you think humans will give up what they took so easily? No. Humans take. They take and they take. They don't back down so easily- _you_ should know. Let's say you fight a war. I'm guessing there's not much of the listeners, due to my mistakes. Will you war with the humans? In exchange for your race?" Kaladin asked, his voice sharper with every word.

Lightning, purple and malignant, crackled around her fingers as her eyes narrowed. 

"Are you willing to teach your children how to hate?" Kaladin goes on, and he knows he's hit a nerve when a charged spear of ice suddenly shoots out of her hand for him. 

" _How dare you?!_ " The listener roars as Kaladin flipped to the side, eyes wide at the spear that just caused a hole in the wall.

"You dare talk us out of a war you helped cause?! You dare pretend that you care?!"

"Because I can see that it is destroying us all! Do you honestly want to spend the rest of your life getting consumed by destruction, violence and hatred?! Can you honestly tell me this is how you want to spend your life, with the sight of peace on the horizon nothing more than a faraway dream? Tell me you want to spend the rest of your life fruitlessly chasing after something that will most certainly destroy you!" Kaladin yells, willing, pleading the listener to listen to him.

(Shallan would have most certainly made a joke about that somewhere, and thinking of Shallan makes Kaladin's heart twinge, because blast it all, she was just a _child,_ and honestly what of those poor children of the listeners, forced to take up spears before taking up toys, forced to shed tears before they even know what tears are for, forced to know death before their time, and anger swells up in him.)

(Because these listeners were damning themselves to a war that would destroy them all, and because of what he did.)

Kaladin stands up from the ground, breathing in as fire swirls around him. 

"Go ahead. Do it. Kill me." Kaladin says, staring at the listener resolutely.

The listener looks at him with an unimpressed stare.

"Go on. What's to stop you from doing so?"

"I am not going to fall for a trick such as that, Avatar. If you want to corner me, you'll have to try harder than that."

Kaladin smiles. "I know." 

And he breathes in again, air surrounding the fires around him, while water surrounds him and overlaps the fire, rocks released into the air with a force he never knew was possible as they surrounded him, as he calls upon those lost. 

"Go on, young one. Nothing will stop you." The Avatar said, gently. 

* * *

Venli knew power. 

Or at least she thought she did. 

But _this_ , the Avatar controlling the elements of the world with a finesse she knew impossible, revealing it for her to kill them-

Of course. Once the Avatar revealed their full power, you were to kill them to destroy the spirit travelling through out time, but this...

Nothing would stop her? The Avatar wouldn't stop her from killing them? 

Venli found her legs suddenly incapable of moving, the dawning of that knowledge suddenly fearfully paralyzing and jarring.

Were Eshonai's concerns about this attack right after all? 

Was the prophecy true then? That the Avatar would...that the Avatar would save them? Truly? 

Venli suddenly found herself attuning the Rhythm of Hope, and gasped- for it was such an old, such an ancient rhythm she thought it lost to destruction and strife and she fell to her knees, the rhythm pulsating inside of her without her control.

But not against her wishes, and that was what was so frightening.

"No." She found herself whispering, breath stilted. 

How could she? 

She had thought herself powerful, and the god inside her whispered that yes, indeed she was powerful. So why wasn't she claiming her fate? Her fate as the savior of the listeners, the singers, who were forced to an eternity of nightmares due to this being before her? 

Why was she not claiming her fate? 

_Because this is not your fate. Your fate is not to destroy._

Venli swallowed, remembering the tales of the Avatar her mother told her and her sister when they were children.

_And so the Avatar said to the lost, before showing them a better way...._

_We're lost,_ Venli realized, attuning the Rhythm of the Lost. 

The god screamed that they would be, if they did not eliminate the Avatar.

Venli inhaled, hardly daring to speak.

"Taravangian is inside. He intends to murder you." Venli whispered, after an eon of silence.

The power faded, and the Avatar floated down, eyes once more brown and intense as that of a storm, and finally, Venli felt like she could breathe. 

"Thank you." He said gently, and Venli only hung her head low, closing her eyes, left with more questions than she had bargained for. 

* * *

_That_ , had been exhausting. 

Viewing the universe in its entirety, feeling all the emotions available on the emotional spectrum, experiencing lives that were not his, believing in beliefs and thoughts different from his own....

It seemed that to be the Avatar, you needed to have a high level of temerity (if Adolin and Shallan were to believed, he was doing particularly excellently on that front), and an equally high level of tolerance to exhaustion. 

Kaladin did not like being the Avatar.

It sucked. 

The things you had to do to save the universe, Kaladin grumbled mentally before sagging against a pillar and then eyeing the listener, who was still displaying the burns from the lightning he had redirected.

Making up his mind, he approached her. 

* * *

"Renarin! _You idiot!_ " Adolin snarled, quickly bending an icy platform to catch his falling brother. 

It turned out that the listener had the fantastic idea of lodging themselves in between walls so as to corner any bender stupid enough to blow up walls, and Adolin was honestly annoyed with himself for wanting things to blow up. 

Spirits, what was he? A kid? 

Renarin, meanwhile, the stupid little idiot, Adolin thought furiously, had decided tackling the listener repeatedly with fire was a good idea. 

It had only ended up in him being flung out of the window. Which was two floors above the ground. And while Renarin, in his defense, did propel himself out of the way further using flames, it still didn't change the fact he got flung out of a window, by _holy Vedel._

* * *

"Who the _hell_ asked you to act the hero?!" Adolin growled, redirecting the platform to the interior of the corridor. 

"Hey, don't blame me for a listener hiding in the walls." Renarin retorted, nettled even as he spotted the fear in his brother's eyes, supported up by Adolin's arm around his shoulder, smoke puffing about all over them. 

The listener focused a blast of fire on one of their palms, firing it at Adolin who was quick to freeze it into a slab before splintering it with a kick, supporting Renarin all the while. Thinking fast, he supported his brother against a wall and healed his bruises, slapping Renarin's arm when the latter protested.

"I'm not that badly injured- _ow_!"

"You and Kaladin are creatures of the same breed." Adolin grumbled, bending a barrier of ice around them with a wave of his hand. 

Renarin said nothing, and only watched with a flush as his brother healed his nearly smashed arm and wow, he had _not_ taken that into consideration. 

The iced barrier around them shattered, cracks of ice pelting down on them and Renarin widened his eyes as his brother bodily moved over to protect him from the ice, slamming a hand to the wall to support himself as ice pierced him, his blue eyes panicked yet determined.

"Adolin-" 

Adolin grunted in pain, before looking at their enemy. "Ready, little brother?"

Renarin inhaled, nodding once before the duo stood up and stared down their foe. "Yeah. Let's take him down." 

The listener's eyes glowed a menacing red as they approached, and Renarin frowned, a thought suddenly occurring to him.

What did the listeners bend anyway? Did they just bend everything? 

"Adolin." Renarin asked, voice slow.

"What?" Adolin asked, an ax of ice already forming between his hands. Renarin stared at it- what was Adolin going to do with _that_? Chop off the listener's head? 

"Drop the ax. And quick question, what do they bend?" Renarin asked urgently, fists burning up. 

Adolin didn't get time to reply because at that moment a rock slammed him into the wall, and Renarin pried it off his brother in a thrice, glaring at him while the idiot sheepishly grinned. 

"Mostly earth and lightning?" Adolin replied, still grinning sheepishly. 

Renarin growls under his breath, before turning back and watching the lightning come for him. 

"Shit, shit, shit-" Renarin muttered, holding out his hand and trying to remember how Kaladin redirected lightning. 

Oh no. 

Blank. 

_Panic._

Renarin grit his jaw, willing not to let his emotions get the best of him, not now- when his brother is finally with him and being an idiot-

" _Renarin_?" Adolin asks, clearly gaping but Renarin lets himself get hit by the lightning before forcing it to stop, and listen to him. 

_Stop. Stop. STOP!_

The lightning stops just before it shocks him to death, and Renarin feels light headed, buzzy, buzzed, but most importantly alive, considering he's doing this for the first time and he wills himself not to exhale. 

He forces the lightning to move to his fingers, drawing in a shuddering, ragged breath and lets it go with a single exhale. 

The flash of lightning nearly blinding him as it goes straight for the listener and shocks him, nearly paralyzing, and as they fall down, Renarin exhales again, exhilarated. 

"Renarin Kholin, you absolute _idiot!"_ Adolin growls loudly, grunting and trying to get himself out of the debris, and Renarin smiles as he falls into his brother's arms.

* * *

"Shallan!" 

Shallan found herself pushed to the other end of the room by a surprisingly strong pair of arms, and then on the ground, looking up at Tien's panicked brown eyes.

"This is awkward." Shallan said, dryly.

Pattern screeched loudly in agreement, and from her position, Shallan could see Pattern clamp his hands over Syl's eyes, hissing. It would have been cute if it wasn't so awkward. 

"You think?" Tien asked, and Shallan chuckled as the Lightweaver got himself off of her. 

Both of them stood up, looking at their opponent- their eyes glowed red and lightning crackled around them completely.

"Not the prettiest princess out there for certain," Shallan said, making Tien snort as she started shifting into an airbender- legs at an angle, one hand stretched out before creating a swipe of air with a wave of that hand- it would have lifted off Tien as well had he not the sense to roll away at the last second. 

The listener as it was, got slammed into the wall, and Shallan narrowed her eyes. 

Tien then ran up the wall nearest to the immobilized listener, hiding himself behind a curtain as the definitely annoyed listener got up and stared down Shallan. 

Shallan breathed in before flipping backwards gracefully on her palms, dodging the rock flying towards her and then running as the listener's clearly aggressive rocks made their way towards her, crashing into walls. 

While the listener was maliciously attempting to get revenge, Tien stretched out his staff, before jumping on the listener and smacking the helmet like carapace on their head, before landing and spinning it on the listener so soundly that they got sent flying to the other wall. 

Shallan grinned, flashing a thumbs up, but the listener got up, and growled- sending a lightning bolt for Shallan, who widened her eyes and swiftly ducked down and glided past the lightning bolt. 

Tien's brown eyes reminded her of Kaladin at that moment- it was easy to see why they were brothers at that precise moment, Shallan thought with a shiver, as those eyes watched the fight with a frightening intensity. 

If not for the fact that Kaladin would not be caught dead with an ostentatious staff as that- Shallan could _almost_ imagine that it was Kaladin behind that mask. 

"You're really annoyed with me, eh?" Shallan muttered to herself, before lifting herself off with a palm on the ground and landing with a well aimed air blast. 

The listener dodged it easily, before slamming their hands on the ground, sending a shockwave of lightning towards Shallan, who created a ball of air on her feet, before speeding away on that air ball. 

" _Seriously_?" Tien asked to himself, gaping at the ridiculous image before shaking his head and then switching his staff for a mace, hitting the listener definitely, who fell down with a cry. 

The listener however was too swift for Tien, as they grabbed his wrist without even getting up. Tien widened his eyes before dropping the staff to the floor and grabbing a little mirror from the pocket of his breeches, dropping the mirror on the listener's head.

 _There-_ Tien thought, as an illusion of himself stood, running away, but the illusion wouldn't last so long with so little light. 

It bought him time, and he caught up with Shallan, who was standing at the edge of the door, watching the whole thing in amazement. 

"What was that mirror?" Shallan asked, staring as the listener grabbed at the illusory Tien while the real one dragged her away, Syl and Pattern on his shoulders. 

"Lightweaving mirror. It's got chi infused into it and it releases an illusion of yourself with the position you've kept in mind when you drop it." Tien explained, as they kept running. 

Shallan whistled. "Neat!" 

Tien smiled. "Yeah, it's awesome, I know." 

"What now? Why are we running?" 

"We need to get away from that listener firstly. Secondly, we need to find out if there's anyone we can help. Try tracking if there are people." Tien said, now sobering up. 

"Right!" 

* * *

"Earth and lightning? Brother, you'll have to sit this one out." Renarin says, breathing heavily.

"First off, you're tired and in need of healing- for the second fuc-freaking time (Renarin raises an eyebrow at his brother's slip up, but lets it slide). I don't need some fancy-schmancy bending to take down somebody. You know that, right?" Adolin said, raising an eyebrow. 

Renarin thinks back to Adolin stabbing three to four Skybreakers by just running his sword through them and then cringes. 

"Exactly." Adolin says, a little too smugly, if the smirk on his face is anything to go by. 

"Try not to use your waterbending though. I managed to shock him, I mean-them, for a while, I don't know how long it'll last-" 

"Little brother, just because I like pretending I'm dumb doesn't mean I actually am," and while the words are spoken flippantly, blue eyes dancing with mirth, Renarin feels horribly ashamed. 

"Sorry-" 

"I know." Adolin says with a laugh, voice deep and reassuring, as he ruffles his brother's head and pulls out a bow and quiver from the back, while letting him rest against a wall. 

Renarin just looks up at his brother, head still buzzing, but now his senses are much clearer- at least the noise in his head has stopped. That was okay. The listener, severely injured, tries to rise back but is doing so poorly, from behind a cloud of fuzzy smoke and Renarin shakes his head, feeling bleary. 

Adolin sets up the arrow on the bow, drawing it back as the tip of the arrow is encrusted with ice so chilling that even Renarin can feel the temperature of the air lessen considerably, from where he's resting.

"Not a sword?" Renarin asks involuntarily, and Adolin shakes his head. 

"You have to be prepared in war. The enemy won't let you choose what to fight with. If he doesn't, then you have to give yourself that choice." Adolin explained, before letting the arrow loose. 

It hits the tired listener's forehead, the black skin just beneath the strange golden helmet like carapace, and an orange liquid oozes out, causing the listener to wobble and crumble to the ground- Adolin sighing at the end. 

"All right, that's done. Now, little brother, do try to stay still- otherwise I'm shipping you off back to Mom." Adolin says sternly, before working on Renarin's injuries with glowing hands, warm with water, and Renarin just grins. 

"Stop _grinning_ , you little twerp." 

Renarin just grins wider till Adolin pokes at his burnt arm with a scalpel of ice. Quite painfully. In a way that could be considered effectively, as abuse and Renarin's eyes water from the pain before he cries out. 

" _OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!!!_ " Renarin hisses out, looking up at his brother with betrayed and teary eyes. 

"It works every time." Adolin says with a cheerful smirk, making Renarin glare at him. 

* * *

"That's done! Let's get to the throne room!" Tien says, inspecting the room after Shallan just escorted the last group of servants out. 

"Let's hope no one's dead." Shallan said, dryly. 

Syl croons in worry while Pattern looks solemn, and Shallan tries not to let the dread infect her.

From the tired smile on Tien's face- she knows he's doing the same. 

* * *

"Try risking your life once more, and I will ship you off to Mom, Renarin, I'm not even joking." Adolin reprimands, even as they keep running to the throne room. 

"Mom would just send me back." Renarin says dryly, and Adolin just glares at him.

* * *

"You aren't really supposed to be healing me." The listener, Venli, he learns, grumbles at him.

"And the world isn't really supposed to be such a tattered mess, yet here we are." Kaladin said dryly, healing her burns. 

Venli brooded in silence, as he healed her injuries. 

"You're supposed to go after Taravangian, aren't you?" Venli asked, frowning at him.

"I'm supposed to help you first, then deal with nosy humans next." Kaladin said, earning himself a disbelieving snort from her.

"Kal?" Came Adolin's voice from the entrance and Kaladin looked up in surprise, before feeling warm at the fact that the whole team was there, smiling slightly as he nodded at them. 

He then looked at Venli's burnt arm, the dark color now fading and lightening. "Does it hurt?"

Venli shook her head with a disgruntled frown. "No. But...oh, never mind."

"There, done."

"Aren't you going to ask for anything in return?" Venli asked, suspicious.

"We know that I'll do nothing of the sort. Off with you." Kaladin said, dryly.

Venli gave him a scrutinizing look, the likes of which Kaladin met with an even stare of his own. 

"You're different." Venli said, finally.

"I hope so, otherwise it'll turn out I've been separated from my family for nothing." Kaladin said, getting up with a grunt and holding out a hand for Venli to take. She didn't take it, but he hadn't expected her to. 

Venli frowned at him at his statement, and Kaladin shrugged.

"Now if you'll excuse me, we have a king to threaten."

* * *

* * *

"The whole time the Skybreakers were searching for fake Avatars, they should probably have executed you." Avatar Kaladin says softly, the whole air crackling with malice as he holds up a flaming fist to Taravangian's face. 

Adolin Kholin snorts, but there is no humor in his eyes, as he holds an frozen sword to Taravangian's neck. 

There's a Lightweaver holding a staff above his head, a staff that suspiciously smelled of poison- since when did the Avatar become correspondents with Lightweavers, he was supposed to be a naive young man isolated by the Fire Nation- couldn't they _even_ -

But of course. It all lead up to Adolin Kholin and Jasnah Kholin, and Taravangian had been unbelievably foolish to exclude their inclusions in this matter.

A young air nomad, the Davar heiress, is hiding her face behind a fan but her own eyes are also dancing with malice.

Renarin Kholin stands beside them, the burnt scars on his face hidden under the poor lighting of the palace serving to make him all the more threatening.

They were just children! Children-

Children who had grown far too strong.

"So, how about it?" Kaladin asked, eyes lighting up with satisfaction as Taravangian backed himself up against a crumbling wall.

He swallowed. This Avatar did not kill yet, but he would. It was a matter of time. 

And...if he got in his way once more....

Taravangian had the feeling that the Earth Kingdom's government would not be spared. At all. This young man would serve to right the world as it was to be, as he saw fit. 

He was a storm, a relentless storm that could not be stopped and Taravangian had foolishly attempted blowing him away, a storm blessed by waves, waves that would follow him where he went- and Taravangian found himself glancing at Adolin Kholin, who was one of the reasons, if not the main, that this Avatar had come so far. 

Truly...he had misunderstood human nature. When he had made his plans to save the world from certain doom....he had misunderstood

"I think your palace should be enough of a reminder as to what we're capable of. Otherwise-" Kaladin's voice was a barely suppressed snarl, much like that of a wild beast just let loose, and Taravangian swallowed. 

"U-Understood."

"And if we get betrayed once more, I will _not_ hesitate to murder you. The Earth Kingdom will be better off without a ruler that constantly gets them into trouble." Kaladin said, his words a sickening promise, and Taravangian nodded, not eager to cross this powerful being once more. 

* * *

* * *

"Hey, Kal." 

The other three were leading the way to a safe house Tien claimed he knew, and the two had remained at the back, walking slowly.

"Yeah?" Kaladin asked, exhausted, as he yawned under the night sky. The whole of Ba Sing Se's citizens were looking at them in awe and horror, and a lot of other emotions Kaladin was too tired to notice but he couldn't blame them, considering that the palace was nothing more than a ruined wreck, thanks to solely what they had done. 

"Would you really murder someone, given the chance?" Adolin asked softly, blue eyes shining with concern.

Kaladin sighed, rubbing his eyes, knowing what Adolin asked of him. 

"Also, I know you're not as exhausted as all that."

Kaladin glared at him for a second before running a hand through his hair, sighing.

"I suppose I'll have to, one day, won't I? Just as you said. Besides, it's not the first time." Kaladin said, sighing with relief as Adolin rubbed his back.

"I know. But I also know you. And what you think and do is more important to me." Adolin said, hand carefully over the back of the other's neck, rubbing it. 

Kaladin smiled slightly. "Thanks, but...this is..." his smile dimmed. "This is difficult."

"I know." Adolin said gently, voice barely louder than a whisper, and the best part was, he really did. It wasn't just something he was simply saying to assuage him, and that warmed Kaladin. 

"I know that. And thank you."

Adolin grinned, warm and bright in that unfailingly beautiful way of his. "Well, someone has to be there for you, no? Otherwise, think of the horror."

Kaladin elbowed him, earning him a laugh from the other. 

"We're here!" Tien said, grinning.

"Where?" Kaladin asked dryly.

Renarin snorted while Shallan chuckled. "Look at the signboard." Shallan said, pointing up.

Kaladin looked up, the signboard reading _'Bridge Four'_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my brain suffering from a bad week of arguments: how 'm i supposed to write this without music  
> my brain: *plays music outta nowhere in chemistry class*  
> me: *gets spurred into action*
> 
> this chapter was a trip!

**Author's Note:**

> DUDEEEEE WRITING AND PLANNING THIS IS SO ADDICTIVELY FUN LMAO
> 
> LET'S GET GOING FOR THE RIDE
> 
> also, i really, really love this au, so it would mean a lot to me if you commented? hopefully nice things, lol.


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